Another of our "first evers".... from this year's trip.
The really amazing thing about him is his size.... not how big but rather how small.
Let me see if I can give you an idea of that size.
Look at the inside of one of your hands, now the fingers, now the crease on the inside of the knuckle of any of your fingers.... that's how big.
I know this because when I got there.... Pepe (our Divemaster) was holding him on one of his fingers.
Which he then held down next to the reef.... so Mr. Colorful here could inch his way back to home.
Had he not been holding him.... I never would have seen him. Which probably explains why it's taken more than 700 dives for me to find what people tell me has always been there.
All known nudibranchs are carnivores.... some feed on sponges, some eat other sea slugs or their eggs and some prey on members of their own species.
In the course of evolution, nudibranchs have lost their shells.... because they have developed other defense mechanisms.
Some have external anatomy with textures and colors to mimic their surroundings.
Others, have intensly bright and contrasting colors that make them especially conspicuous in their surroundings. This is believed to warn potential predators that these slugs are distasteful or poisonous.
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