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Nudibranchs and Other Small Creatures

Nudibranchs are soft-bodied molluscs. I saw a huge number of them while diving on the Big Island in July. They are often hard to find because most are very small, an inch or even smaller. But it’s exciting when you spot one! Many of these photos were taken in caves, making it difficult to capture good shots. So apologies for any blurriness. Additionally, I have done my best to identify them, but I may have made a mistake. And I had to do the Pikachu twice. I had never seen one before, and we saw three on one wall!

Nudibranchs going left to right, top to bottom:

  • White Margin — Trembling
  • Strawberry — Scott Johnson
  • Pikachu — Pikachu
  • Gumdrop — Locust
  • Violet Blue — Fellows
  • Tom Smith — Red Spotted
  • Golden Lace — Pali
  • Gloomy — Scambled Egg
Great video Will took of a blue dragon Nudi.

Also saw some fun other small things.

Wire Coral Goby — very small
Blue Fan Bryozoan
Long Nose Hawkfish — these are usually seen only in pretty deep water, but we saw this one at 60 feet.
Golden Fleece Gobies — these are small and usually only seen in caves.