#dendronotus iris

[heartnosekid]

giant nudibranch (dendronotus iris) | source

[noncompliantcyborg]

Some moments from nightlighting this year in the Salish Sea.

In order of appearance, this video features:

0:00 - Dendronotus iris, the giant nudibranch - first shown up close to show off its highly branched cerata, and then seen swimming. 0:22 - A harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardii, swimming around the light while it hunts fish. 0:39 - Shrimp and fish circling the light. 1:08 - A squid jets by 1:12 - thousands of long thin larval fish school around the light 1:20 - A large cross jellyfish, Mitrocoma cellularia, pulses its bell to swim, fanning out its many fine tentacles 1:30 - many small fish swarm the pale blue light, blotting out portions of it 1:52 - a long yellow polychaete worm dances and weaves through the water column 2:04 - the crystal jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, swims with an incredible amount of Pleurobrachia bachei ctenophores and other animals in the background and then we zoom past to see more ctenophores. 2:18 - an egg yolk jelly, Phacellophora camtschatica swims by in deep blue water 2:30 - a nudibranch with long narrow cerata, Cumanotus sp., swims by swinging its body back and forth, whipping its cerata around. 2:43 - a sea gooseberry, Pleurobrachia bachei, spins through its fanned out tentacles in a gorgeous dance 2:57 - a small hydrozoan jelly with a yellow mouth and dots around its bell, Proboscidactyla flavicirrata, bounces, pulses, and then turns to the side showing off its branched radial canals 3:11 - a sea gooseberry, Pleurobrachia bachei, spins and casts rainbows with its ctenes, mouth up to the camera 3:21 - an odd gregarious jelly, Clytia gregaria, with an extra radial canal giving it a star shaped mouth, swims in the dark 3:27 - outro card "Thanks for Watching" with instagram, facebook, and bluesky icons and the handle ‪@NonCompliantCyborg‬

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Catriona Columbiana.

The Sand Dwelling Slugs of California - Nudibranchs  

Photographer: Craig Hoover

Dendronotus iris feeding on Pachycerianthus fimbriatus.

Tritonia diomedes

Eubranchus rustyus likes to dine on Plumularia.

[montereybayaquarium]

With friends like these, who needs anemones?

[anudibranchaday]

The Dendronotus iris is often called the Giant nudibranch, and for good reason. This nudibranch can grow to a whopping 30cm in length! It lives in muddy subtidal areas from northern Alaska to northern Mexico, at most 200m below the surface. Like many other nudibranchs, the Giant nudibranch has a very specific diet- it feeds solely on the tendrils of the tube-dwelling anemone (as seen in the picture). Funnily enough, the anemones sometimes pull the nudibranch into their tube when they try to hide, although no one seems to be harmed in the process.

[montereybayaquarium]

What do you call nudibranch eggs that look like ramen noodles? IMPASTAS!

📷: A rainbow nudibranch (Dendronotus iris) laying eggs in Monterey, spotted by Michelle Manson.

Nudibranchs grow and reproduce quickly, so they don’t have time to search the seas for a slug soulmate. Instead, they’re hermaphroditic—they have both male and female sexual organs—so meetings between two or more can be a mutual mating session.

A nudibranch’s reproductive organs are all on their right side, a result of their bodies “unwinding” from their ancestral snail form. Reproducing means lining up rhinophores to gills in a molluscan cuddle puddle before each nudibranch lays a squiggly string of slug eggs.  

After about a week, the baby nudis—called veligers—hatch and drift in the currents, feasting on plankton for several weeks before settling down to morph into adults.

📷: Two mating white dendronotus nudibranchs (Dendronotus albus) perch precariously on a blade of eelgrass. Found by Phil Lemley.

📷: While most nudibranch eggs range in color from white to pale yellow, the eggs of a spanish shawl nudibranch (Flabellina iodinea) are a brilliant pink! Spotted by JR Sosky.

[montereybayaquarium]

Watch this barber slug fulfill its anemoneeds!

🎥Joe Platko in Monterey!

UPDATE! Hey everyone! Sorry for the confusion! Here’s more info to explain what’s going on: The anemone retreats once it feels the pinch of the barber slug’s bite. Latching on, the slug is pulled in with the anemone, not wanting to let go of its meal. Once the slug snips off a tentacle or two, it pulls itself back out of the tube and moves on to the next anemone spaghetti dish, while the anemone waits for the coast to clear before coming back out from its tube.

[livingsea-blog]

(Giant dendronotus, Dendronotus iris)

See how peaceful it is here. The sea is everything. An immense reservoir of nature where I roam at will.... Think of it. On the surface there is hunger and fear. Men still exercise unjust laws. They fight, tear one another to pieces. A mere few feet beneath the waves their reign ceases, their evil drowns. Here on the ocean floor is the only independence. Here I am free

- Earl Felton