Nudi "Clothes-ure"

The weather was choppy this week at Maluku in Ambon.  We still got to dive but we had to take a “limo” to Laha town to board the boat.  What do you think of our “sweet ride”?

Here is the inside:

The vehicle actually caught on fire on the way back from one of the dives!

I had Jayne help me with the nudi IDs.  Here we go…

55 – Phyllidia babai

This looks a lot like the Phyllidia oscellata, but if you notice it is white with black circles instead of yellow with black circles.

56 – Ceratosoma tenue

This one is really neat and is often called a kangaroo nudi.  Notice that it has a flap in the back that flips up by the gills.

57 – Flabellina sp.

This was so beautiful and dainty.  I asked Jayne and she said it is not a Flabellina rubrolineata because it doesn’t have three lines.

58 - Dermatobranchus sp.

The big one liked the shell but look closely, there is a little one just to the left.

59 – Cuthona yamasui

Soooo pretty!

60 - Glossidoris pallida

There were two near each other.

61 - Platydoris sp.

This is also called the four spot Platydoris.

62 - Glossidoris rufomarginata

I thought this was a Glossodoris cincta until I reviewed it later with Jayne.

63 – Aeolid of some sort

This looks a lot like a blue dragon nudi but there are circular cerata.

64 - Chromodoris strigata

I may have a better image of this one.

65 - Halgerda batangas

Unfortunately we found this on the last day and neither of my strobes were working anymore, so the color is less than desirable, but at least I captured it!

Here is another cool slug that is a close cousin of the nudi – a Thuridilla albopustulosa.

I also got some awesome footage of blue dragon (Pteraeolidia ianthina) nudis fighting.  After reviewing the crude video my photo camera takes, my favorite part is my underwater commentary.

After all this excitement, I decided to move in.  Here is my new Indonesian house if you need to reach me.

Ha ha.  Well, this nudi safari is over and I’m ready to integrate back into the cold Chicago society.  Until we meet again, nudibranchs of the world!

And speaking of "clothes-ure", I sure have a bunch of stinky laundry to do!

NUDI COUNT = 65