Monterey and Carmel Nudibranchs April 18, 2016

I've only made a single dive so far this year primarily due to unrelenting large swells.  Right now the forecast shows possible diving conditions for later this week, fingers crossed.

Here is a collection of local nudibranch pictures I've taken over several years and a bit about the different nudibranchs.

This is a sea lemon nudibranch, one of the most common nudibranchs in the Monterey and Carmel Bay region.  These nudibranchs range from juveniles an inch or so in length up to five or six inches in length.  When I took this photo I was focused on the nudibranch and didn't even realize that a coralline sculpin was seated next to it.  This nudibranch feeds on sponges.

This is the Clown Nudibrank aka orange and white nudibranch (Catalina Triopha).  We see these nudibranchs several times a year, they range from about an inch in length to four or five inches. Feeds on erect bryozoan colonies.

A pair of horned nudibranchs (Hermissenda Crassicornis).  These are fairly common if you watch closely for them, frequently about an inch or so in length.  These nudibranchs feed on cnidarians like hydroids, anemones, and corals.

A Hilton's nudibranch, in some ways similar to the horned nudibranch.  This one is with a colony of strawberry anemones and I think was feeding on them, they feed on cnidarians like strawberry anemones, hydroids, and corals.

Greg Hoberg with a white edged Dirona nudibranch (Dirona albolineata).  We see these nudibranchs infrequently, they feed on small snails (gastropods), bryozoans, tunicates, and cnidarians (hydroids, anemones, corals).

Cocherel's Dorid, about two inches long.  Some color similarity to the Clown Nudibranch but quite different in physical details.

A pair of amorous yellow dorids aka white speckled nudibranchs.  Nudibranchs are hermaphrodites and are frequently seen mating with each other.

A pure white Ohdner's Nudibranch laying eggs.

A Hopkin's Rose Nudibranch, it is hard to figure out head from tail, it makes me think of "The Trouble with Tribbles" or "thing" from The Adam's Family...It feeds on rose colored bryozoans which give it it's color.

A Spanish Shawl nudibranch, I rarely have seen these small nudibranchs, about 1/2 inch long.

A rainbow nudibranch, dendronotus iris, laying a string of its white eggs on a tube anemone on which it, and its young, feed.  This nudibranch feeds on tube anemones by carefully climbing the tube of the anemone, raising it's head above the tentacles, then striking.  The tube anemone quickly pulls down into its tube, drawing the nudibranch in with it.  The nudibranch munches off some tentacles, then crawls back out of the tube. Typically the tube anemone survives and regrows its tentacles.  Here's a video of a rainbow nudibranch attacking a tube anemone that I shot at the Coastguard Breakwater in Monterey last year:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKNOBCCgCSU

San Diego Dorid, this nudibranch feeds on sponges but in this case may be feeding on cup corals.

Triopha maculata nudibranch, the only one I've seen.  It feeds on erect and encrusting bryozoans like the ones encrusting the blade of kelp this nudibranch is on.

White dendronotid nudibranch (Dendronotus albus).  This nudibranch feeds on hydroids and other cnidarians (corals and anemones).  This nudibranch is feeding on the brownish branched hydroid just to its right and closer to the foreground.

Yellow edged cadlina nudibranch (Cadlina luteomarginata), this nudibranch feeds on sponges, as this one is doing.