Nudibranch

Blogged by Simon on June 15, 2010 12:36pm | Last updated by Irene on July 05, 2010 3:18pm | Category: Underwater Photography | Get a Print Get a Print |

NudibranchThis is a Nudibranch found at Chowder Bay in Sydney, species Variable Aphelodoris (Aphelodoris varia). Of all the families in the ocean, these are probably the most diverse, colorful and yet difficult to identify. Imagine several thousand species of colorful little sea slugs, decorated in seriously every pattern and color you could imagine. To give you an idea about how difficult the classification of these animals is consider the following: As recently as 2009, well known Australian underwater naturalist and explorer Neville Coleman published his “Nudibranch Encyclopedia”, building upon a lifetime of research and experience, covering several thousand and naming 350 new species in the indo/pacific area alone!

To my complete surprise, some research reveals these little slugs are carnivores, eating sponges, hydroids and sometimes other nudibranchs. Some are toxic, which comes as no surprise on the other hand, given their colorful display and lack of hard shell, but turn out generally harmless to divers given their small size and habitat.

Nudibranchs have to be every macro photographer’s dream. Slow moving, colorful, in ever changing variations. They are generally easy to photograph with the only challenge being framing them in a pleasing manner and isolating the background. As you may have already guessed, you will not find sea slugs free swimming very often, so you have to be on the lookout on the sponge or coral encrusted surfaces of the reef to find them.

Camera settings: Nikon D300, 60mm macro, f/16 for 1/320s, ISO 200.

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