Nudi Gal: Cuddle Puddle

Today is the two year anniversary of my Dad passing away. I had to cancel for Slugfest 2023 and of course 2020 was canceled due to Covid, so this is my first one since 2018.

We are going on a longer boat ride today to dive Devils Point. All of the boats are going there. It should be a fun caravan.

I brought a rubber chicken on this trip and it is being used in a very different fashion. Instead of using it to shame divers who forget gear or do something stupid on the boat… it is being used to squawk when someone shows a sluggy thing that isn’t a nudibranch. Like my air breathing slug. Doh!

I keep showing my mutants in the daily review and they have called them the sideshow collection! Terry keeps saying that he is having nightmares about that Doriprismatica atromarginata mutant.

Terry also said that the guanine crystals are what cause the glowing in nudis. I looked it up: In some nudibranch species, guanine crystals, specifically in the form of stacks of purine crystals, are found in specialized cells near the epithelial basal lamina, contributing to a temporally dynamic, sparkling, silvery appearance due to their light reflection.

Georgina has accused Wart Slugs (Phyllidia) of being the “Slugs of the Apocalypse” because they are so hard to distinguish. Very true. They are tough. I also think the Aeolids can be confusing.

Our species count is a little low. Terry thinks that we are not seeing those species that feed on soft coral and sea pens… as there is less and less habitat.

We had two very soft corall-ey dives at Devil’s Point. It was a nice change of pace. We saw a big cuddle puddle of Thorunna furtiva having a party.

At Anouk’s recommendation, I added a shortcut button to magnify when I want to ensure that I get a good focus on something. Cool. I keep learning.

Pirjo forgot to vacuum pump her camera, so she served as a spotter on the night dive. I tried the new magnify feature, but the button I chose wasn’t reliably working. I am going to choose a different button.

We lost power for a bit as we were getting ready for the afternoon dive. Then the internet was out in the evening. It makes things a little hard to work on my photos and blog. We heard that there was a truck accident that took out some power lines. Oh well, I just went to sleep early.

Gettin’ sluggy with it

128 - Phyllidia alyta