Aloha from Hawaii
April 24, 2003
From: Rita Bishop
Aloha bill!!
What a wonderful wealth of information!! thanks for all you do!!
I have a friend who sent me a pic of a nudi .. it was taken at a location at Kahe Beach, Hawaii .. the depth was 20ft and it was on a large outlet pipe for an underwater cooling syetem for the electric company accross the beach. There are usually TONS of blue dragon nudis on the pipe but this one was the shape of a spanish dancer with the color of a blue dragon?? Anyway I will attach photo .. it also shows a wonderful leaf scorpion fish :-) .. any help would be appreciated. thanks!!
Aloha,
Rita Bishop
usdiver97@aol.com
Dear Rita,
Perhaps I shouldn't say so but I have a soft spot for fish like Antennarius and its relatives. I was watching one one day wondering how it could keep so still, and then saw how the exhalent opening to the gill pocket had moved to the 'elbow' of its stocky front 'legs'. In this way it could circulate water through its gills without the telltale cheek movements normal fish have to make.
Now before I completely upstage your equally interesting nudibranch. The clue to its identity is the large Porites coral colony behind the fish, and on which the nudibranch is sitting. It is the coral-feeding aeolid Phestilla lugubris. Have a look at the other messages on this page for more information on its biology, and go to the coral-feeding page for more general information on coral feeders.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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