Posts Tagged ‘slug’
Nudibranchs October 15th, 2012
Until a perfectly normal wreck dive off the coast of Abu Dhabi I had never heard of, nor seen, any nudibranchs. Suddenly there they were: all over the sunken barge. Nudibranchs are a type of soft sea slug which are apparently among “some of the most colourful creatures on earth“. Absolutely beautiful creatures.
The bright colouring is a form of defense, indicating it would make either a very bitter or extremely toxic meal for the passing fish.
While there were two types of nudibranchs on the barge, there exist thousands of species.
While some species can grow to up to 60 cm in length, the specimens seen here only measured some 5 to 10 cm. As you can easily see from this shot below of a fellow diver taking a picture of one. If you look closely, you can make out three specimens along the bottom of the image, to center-left.
More coming soon!
Tags: abu dhabi, arab, barge, color, colour, dive, diving, emirate, invertebrate, nudibranch, sea, sea slug, slug, UAE, united arab emirates, water
Posted in Animals, Macro, Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
