Red Sea Slug Nudibranch

What is exactly is a Nudibranch?

Wikipedia says: A soft-bodied mollusk. I like to think of “Nudibranch” as a common term that SCUBA divers throw around on land because the hand signals for such a creature are virtually non-existent. There are several thousand different Nudibranchs that live in the oceans, deep to shallow, cold to warm water and surprisingly, they all look very different from one another. Their “gills” are exposed, making the translated name “naked gills” make sense. They are indeed quite unique creatures, and still allow the SCUBA diving world plenty of interest for macro lens photographers and well-controlled buoyancy divers.

This little critter was about one inch in length and moving around quite a bit. I found it on the far side of Utila, Honduras, along with many other amazing creatures. I had never seen a Red Sea Slug Nudenbranch before, and was told it was a “Spanish Dancer”. Fascinated with this creature, I jumped straight into referencing the SCUBA diver’s bible: Reef Creatures Identification to see what it was. What a strange creature with what appears to be a composite of antennas and legs and textures of all sorts. This little guy was quite a sight to behold.

This particular area of the Caribbean is amazing for seeing smaller marine life like the the Leopard Flatform and Yellowhead Jawfish. Cozumel has their lobsters, Roatan has sea horses, Utila seems to me, the place for amazing small creatures.

The footage of the video is not ideal (underwater video tips available here) as at the time, I was saving up for the right dive lights. Also, the corals were so healthy, there really wasn’t a place on this coral head to stabilize, and I’m not a big fan of touching the reef. I was however, able to capture the sea slug on video for all to enjoy. Watch it move around a little bit as the Sharpnose Puffer stakes territorial claim on the coral head and lets the sea slug know that he’s not welcome.