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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Sea salt

This is a short story to follow up last night's post.  

In January, we were talking with Jeff about sightings of Hopkins' Rose nudibranchs in northern California this yearsee that post on 3 January 2015.  (We're thinking their appearance is based in part on warm ocean water.)  Then Jeff said, "P.S.  I would also expect higher than usual numbers of Doriopsilla albopunctata."

Jeff is one of the most experienced nudibranch observers on the West Coast.  So I wasn't surprised when his prediction started coming true.

Although I've seen Salted Dorids in this area before, their numbers definitely seem to be higher this year, so it's a good time to watch for them if you're in rocky tidepool areas.

Here are two more pictures — a small individual and a close-up:


 
Given how warm the water has been for the past 7 months, it's possible that 2015 could be a very interesting year for nudibranchs in this area.

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