christrent's Favorites

Pacifia goddardi was located at a depth of 35 feet on reef. Lengths were 1 cm. Water temperature was 56 degrees F.

Nudibranchs are commonly found near their food. In this image there appears to be one type of hydroid. The food source of P. goodardi is reported to be Bougainvillia-like species B (Goddard & Hoover, 2016). The thecae of this species have been observed to be sand encrusted and the hypostomes were salmon-colored. The thecae in the lower left of this image appear to match the description of the food source of P. goddardi, but in the present image the hypostomes of the hydroids appear lighter in color. It is not clear if the hydroids in this image are the food source of P. goddardi. Considering that this species has been found repeatedly at Point Dume during the last 5 years, and that 5 individuals were observed during this survey, Point Dume would be a good site for further attempts to document feeding behavior of P. goddardi.

Goddard, JHR, Hoover, CA. 2016. Distribution, seasonality, and prey specificity of Flabellina goddardi Gosliner, 2010 (Gastropoda: Nudipleura: Aeolidina). Nautilus, 130(4): 146-152.

Flabellinopsis iodinea laying eggs was located at a depth of 35 feet on reef. Length was between 3-4 cm. Water temperature was 56 degrees F.

Note the open gonopore in the lower left part of the image.

Female 1178 - born in the wild!

Flock: So Cal
Hatched: May 11, 2021,
Age in this photo: 1 yrs 5 mos
Hatch Location: Wild
Father: 20 Mother: 654
Biological Siblings
45
46
47
67
68
71
72
96
105
106
116
117
137
158
168
181
199
209
221
247
279
336
454
504
594
635
676
726
933

Source: https://condorspotter.com

Really cool experience seeing this Red Abalone Spawn in the wild. I went to check on an abalone I often see, but when I peered down in the crack I realized there were now two of them. This one (pictured) had crawled out from deep around a corner in the back of the hole and positioned itself front and center at the entrance of the crevice. Within three seconds of me seeing the abalone, it began releasing eggs into the water. Im not sure if it was also doing this before I showed up. I snapped a couple photos- only one of which was decently in focus because I turned off my focusing light as to not scare the abalone. I watched it for about a minute an a half until it stopped and began reseeding way back into the crevice. When I came back ten minutes later, only one abalone was left, the one spawning had crawled back deep in the hole and around the corner where it was no longer visible.

I’ll load the rest of my Philippines nudibranch photos later, but I’m stumped by this one - interesting rhinophore tips that I don’t see in California! 😉 Divemaster stumped/curious too, so if you can illuminate us, great! About 16m depth on muck/seagrass substrate a few meters from coral heads.

9 mm long. Found as is on the underside of a low intertidal cobble. It was likely feeding on kamptozoans (entoprocts), a few of which are visible under the anterior end of the slug, with more out of focus in the background at center right.

Only the 2nd time I have found this species, and the first time in about 100 low tide trips to this site since 2002.

A gorgeous girl with a goofy photo at the end ;-) This wild female has been visiting a 'stage' baited with small bits of fresh fish where photographers can wait in silence in a mosquito-y blind for a maximum of two hours to get some not-exactly-100%-candid-but-pretty-darn-awesome shots of a wild ocelot. If she doesn't show (as on the first night), the fish is removed and everyone must leave the area. The last photo shows her intelligence - I was sitting on the end, and noticed her subverting the system by going straight to the unattended fish bucket rather than the more exposed stage area! Hahaha clever girl... the next night the bucket was better guarded. ;-)

Boro -- the dominant one of two brothers (on the right in the photos of both together). Both are sons of Patricia, the dominant female in the area, who returned to the area after she took them far away when they were mature. There is some speculation that they will eventually become the dominant males in the area.

Possibly my favorite “Two Species” observation from the trip! The large tarantula clearly had a commensal relationship with the little 2cm frog, which mostly stayed hidden underneath the tarantula. They shared a burrow. When they came out together and the frog emerged from underneath the tarantula briefly, the tarantula slowly extended a gentle leg (first photo) and guided the frog back underneath its body to safety. 😍😍😍😍😍

I found several papers written on this amazing subject (though not these exact species) but never expected to see it for myself in the wild. Incredible experience!

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353609447_Mutualism_between_frogs_Chiasmocleis_albopunctata_Microhylidae_and_spiders_Eupalaestrus_campestratus_Theraphosidae_a_new_example_from_Paraguay