Hurry today only! Triple the deposit!

After a short time out of the water due to non-nudi related happenings (I proposed to my girlfriend, who is now my fiance!) I finally got to pull the neoprene back on and blow some bubbles.

A trip to my favourite nudi grounds was in order. The Slide, near Terrigal Haven, on the Central Coast of NSW is a pretty decent spot to view some branchs. I really need to get a grip of my pre-dive routine! I'm hopeless when it comes to packing the right things, charging batteries, remembering towels and spare undergarments!

Armed with my camera showing the dreaded half battery symbol, I jumped off the rock ledge and headed straight to the area of the dive site where you are pretty much guaranteed to spot a nudi. I wasn't to be let down as I spotted the first nudi of the day. Hypselodoris bennetti, sitting on a small piece of coral.



This nudibranch is a fairly common find at The Slide. I have also noticed that finding groups sharing a grazing area is common here too.



I am unsure if there is perhaps a subspecies, or just different markings, but I have noticed that some of the bennetti have a lot more magenta markings than others. This may just be variation between individual nudibranchs, or a subspecies, I haven't figured that one out yet. (Gary, help?)



My second find on this dive was another nudi that I have seen frequent this location before. Glossodoris atromarginata, a relatively large nudibranch which is easy to spot in good light due to the bright white body and wavy black margin. The individual pictured was approximately 80mm long, which would be around the largest I have seen of this species at this dive site.


The final entry to today's blog is a nudibranch I have not been able to identify. The image below is of a nudibranch approximately 40mm long, white body with long translucent foot, yellow spots on the body, smooth thin mantle, pink tipped rhinophores and gills.
I'll have to get the good people at www.nudibranch.com.au to help me with an ID on this guy.



Again, for anyone interested in nudibranchs check out www.nudibranch.com.au !!

Stay tuned for more branch mayhem!

First deposit in the NudiBank

So, the idea of this blog is to keep a record of the branchs that I find around my local waters (Central Coast, NSW).

I'll start with a guy I have been unable to identify so far.
I think it is Tambja moro, which I found on the greatest Nudibranch site ever made - www.nudibranch.com.au

On the website it shows Tambja moro to have less blue bands, but I believe they could still be the same species.

I found this guy on a shallow dive at Catherine Hill Bay, underneath the coal loader.
It was a relatively large nudi - 70-80mm, found at 8 metres deep.

EDIT: Confirmation of species - Tambja verconis - Thanks Gary, from nudibranch.com.au

First blog - Intro, welcome, etc

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now...

I had a few ideas running through my head on different subjects to write about. Mostly animal related.

First I had better introduce myself. I am Dave. Proud Vegan and animal rights supporter. I'm also an avid diver and environmentalist. I guess if I had have been born 20 years earlier I would be sporting an awesome hippy mo and muttering phrases like "send the troops home maaaan".
Fortunately I was born 2 decades later, into a world that, thanks to those hippies, allowed freedom of speech and ideas.

I am a very strong believer of education - mainly in the form of environmental education. Going Vegan WILL SAVE THE PLANET!

Anyways, enough rambling, and more, umm... "related rambling"?

I have started this blog as I am a nudibranch enthusiast. For those of you with no idea of what a nudibranch is, do not feel alone. I remember laughing at my dive buddy when he uttered the word 'nudibranch', thinking it was some kind of weird erotic sea thing that scuba divers do...

The most simple, yet inaccurate, way to describe a nudibranch is - a sea slug found in many different colours and forms. The word 'nudibranch' means naked gill in latin.

This blog is my attempt to help new and established divers, and any other interested people, in the joys of Nudibranchs.

Cheers,
Dave