Sea Slugs on the Move: Bent on World Domination, or Opportunistic Travel Bums?

Polycera atra (top) and Polycera hedgpethi on Bugula brozoan prey San Luis Obispo County, California

Sea Slugs on the Move: Bent on World Domination, or Opportunistic Travel Bums? With the passing of the very low, very early morning tides of summer, tidepooling minds must reluctantly turn away from the outer edges of our coastline for a few months, until the autumn minus tides return in mid-October. And what better topic to occupy our Covid/smoke/asteroid/politics stressed minds than possible world domination by sea slugs? I exaggerate, of course. We won’t be marching in lines and waving tiny nudibranch flags any time soon. But there has been a quiet movement of sea slug populations taking …

The Perfect Social Distancing Activity: Early Morning Tidepooling for Nudibranchs in San Luis Obispo County

June 19, 2020 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program nudibranch Robin Agarwal sea slug sea slug of the month seaslug tidepool etiquette tidepool Morro Bay tidepooling what to do during quarantine what to do in morro bay Blog Posts

A Limacia cockerelli nudibranch from the front. It is white with orange-tipped cerata.

Now through October is the peak of the nudibranch-viewing season. Wait, what? You didn’t know there was a season for looking at nudibranchs? Well, there is, at least for some of the flashiest species found in the tidepools of the Central Coast. Scuba divers have a bit more time and options, but for those of us who look for nudibranchs with our heads above water, the early morning hours of late summer offer us some of the best opportunities to see these colorful marine gastropods in the intertidal. In previous blogs for the Estuary Program, I’ve gone into …

Updates from the Field, December 2019: wildlife, staff changes, and restoration

January 10, 2020 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program animals of morro bay eelgrass egg mass estuary program field work fieldwork mollusc mollusk morro bay morro bay national estuary program morro bay wildlife navanax nudibranch egg mass opalescent nudibranch sea slug seaslug Blog Posts

Morro Bay estuary with bat ray pits, Morro Bay National Estuary Program

Wildlife observations The fall is a great time for observing invertebrates along the mudflat in Morro Bay, and lucky for us, we are out monitoring eelgrass every fall. This often leaves us wondering, “What is this?!”, but sometimes we find the answers while monitoring eelgrass health. For example, we have been seeing a number of egg masses such as this one, tucked away on blades of eelgrass. Considering the diverse array of organisms that utilize eelgrass as habitat, we were left wondering which creature had been laying the eggs. Sometimes though, you wander along the right part of …

A Sea Slug by Any Other Name, Guest Post by Robin Agarwal

November 15, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program anuidibranchmom belly biology California tidepool evolutionary biology iNaturalist morro bay morro bay national estuary program morro bay wildlife nudibranch Robin Agarwal sea slug seaslug taxonomy what to see in Morro Bay Guest post Sea Slug of the Month Wildlife spotlight

Acanthodoris lutea nudibranch smells like citrus or cedar

This is the fifth post in our Sea Slug of the Month series by guest author, Robin Agarwal. A Sea Slug by Any Other Name: One Grossly Derivative Title Covering Three Random Thoughts About Scented Sea Slugs, Hopkins’s Rose, and the Ongoing Bother About Names “that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet” —Juliet in Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare Although she was not particularly noted for her tidepool explorations, Juliet may have been surprised to discover that three of the nudibranchs (shell-less marine molluscs) living along the Central California Coast actually emit scents …

Sea Slug of the Month – Yellow Blobs of Awesomeness, Guest Post by Robin Agarwal

August 9, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program a nudibranch mom anudibranchmom California tidepool central coast dorid guest post nudibranch Robin Agarwal sea slug sea slug of the month seaslug tidepool wildlife spotlight Guest post Sea Slug of the Month Wildlife spotlight

Yellow Blobs of Awesomeness: Sea Goddesses, Sea Lemons and That One with the Tentacles Guest post by Robin Agarwal Humans like sea slugs. They’re harmless to humans, but voracious predators if you’re a hydroid or a sponge. They come in a variety of cool shapes and sizes, and have fascinating life histories that allow one to throw around words like ‘nudi’ and ‘hermaphrodite’ with impunity in mixed company. But best of all, nudibranchs appeal mightily to humans’ attraction to pattern and color. We cannot resist taking a closer look at something bright and colorful as we explore …

Sea Slug of the Month – Morro Bay’s ‘Gateway Nudi:’ Opalescent Nudibranch, Guest Post by Robin Agarwal

July 12, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program a nudibranch mom Ángel Valdés anudibranchmom Austin L. Ka’ala Estores-Pacheco Hermissenda Hermissenda crassicornis Hermissenda opalescens iNaturalist nudibranch Robin Agarwal sea slug sea slug of the month seaslug Blog Posts Guest post Sea Slug of the Month Wildlife spotlight

Three Opalescent Nudibranchs (Hermissenda opalescens). Photograph courtesy of Robin Agarwal via Flickr Creative Commons License

“Whoaaaa…what is THAT?” “It’s gorgeous, whatever it is.” “It’s moving!” “Dude, check this out!” “So BLUE!” “What IS it?” Music to a science educator’s ears, of course, thanks to the astonishing colors and reasonably viewable size of one of California’s most iconic sea slug species, the Opalescent Nudibranch (Hermissenda opalescens). Found throughout the Central California coast, these brightly-colored carnivores are often the first nudibranchs to astonish and delight the humans venturing into their intertidal world during seasonal low tides. Photograph of Opalescent nudibranch, (Hermissenda opalescens) taken in Monterey, California. Courtesy of Robin Agarwal, under Creative Commons license via …