I took a photo of a pale turquoise and green sea star; as so often happens, something else showed up when I blew up the photo.
 |
| Starfish, yellow eggs, bryozoan cases, green worm, sponges, tubeworms, more eggs. And ... |
Look up at the left corner, to the right of the green worm. There's a white blob. Look closely; it has spiky, white projections all over.
It could be a nudibranch that I have never seen before. My encyclopedia has three white blob nudibranchs with white projections, all under an inch and a half long. The starfish was about 5 inches across.
So this may be the Nanaimo nudibranch, Acanthodoris nanaimoensis; the Pilose Doris, Acanthodoris pilosa; or, less likely, the Hudson's Dorid, Acanthodoris hudsoni.
Whichever it is, it's a lifer. *Does lifer dance.*
All these critters are so well-camouflaged that they'd get passed over by all but the most observant. That's quite the population density on that small section of rock. I'll have to remind myself to take my macro lens with me next time I'm off to the beach.
ReplyDeleteI seem to always have the wrong lens with me, but I switch around, carrying a different lens every few days. This time, it was the kit lens, which is passable for distances (barely) and can handle macro, but is very noisy. At least, it gives me a choice of subject, near or far. Other days, I take a different lens, chosen on my whim of the moment. The good macro one, the one I use for my tank critters, won't do distances and up close has a very shallow depth of field. The biggest I have isn't big enough for distant birds, but will do mountains. It has a narrow view and won't let me get close to anything. And the pocket camera that is always with me does macro nicely, but is so noisy that the fine stuff gets blurred out. And I never carry two lenses, because there's no way I'm going to change lenses where the air is full of blowing sand and salt.
ReplyDeleteNext time I go to Stories Beach at low tide, I'm carrying the tank macro lens. (40 mm)
I'm impressed! I've only seen tropical nudibranchs.
ReplyDelete