Nudie in St. Vincent....

Haven't been diving as much as I would like recently, lots of teaching, plus my 'proper' camera is having a break at the Sea and Sea workshop following a diver malfunction incident that I will not dwell on.... oh the embarrassment

Any hoo I did go for a critter hunt and came across this little chap speeding across the sand.... formula one nudi - seriously!

It's about 1cm / third of an inch approx long, spotted in about 25 - 35 ft water and not in the Ned and Paul book, tried looking on line but unable to ID....

So very sorry about the picture quality, but back to old camera, and just can't get the macro stuff sorted after not using it for so long... and did I mention that this nudi was a racer!

Any help really appreciated.

Thanks,

Kay

So heres another shot of afore mentioned nudi....

Les Wilk also photographed a similar animal at St. Vincent which had slightly stronger coloration. It was identified as Cerberilla tanna on the Sea Slug Forum -

http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall.cfm?base=cerbtann

Ah looks like the chap! REALLY wish that I hadn't dampend my other camera! I now have 1000+ dives in St. Vincent (I stopped counting after 1000 - yes I know that I'll be punished for not logging... but my photo archive is my record.... I digress....) and I have not seen this fellow before, and it's really cool to spot things, plus I now know where to go look again once my camera returns from it's vacation!

Thank you Leslie.

K

It's always fun to find new things, isn't it? The funny thing is, most "rare" critters aren't really rare, we just don't know their proper habitats or they're so well camouflaged against the background.

Hi Kay,

Great find! and I hope you get your camera back soon.

Didn't you buy Caribbean Sea Slugs at DEMA? I remember talking to you there.

Check out Page 276 of Caribbean Sea Slugs for more information.

I'll look forward to more photos after you get your camera back.

St Vincent is one of my favorites in the Caribbean.

Anne

Anne,

Lovely to hear from you! Unfortunately I did not buy the book... serious over weight problem with my luggage (Orlando is home to my most favorite store in the world... Bass Pro Shop... spent a FORTUNE on stuff for my boat, dive shop and me!). Add to that all the good stuff at the show. Deeply regretting not buying some more ID books though, especially as my employees, all of whom are Vincentian and have a real passion for finding out about all the wonderful sea creatures that they see whilst diving, get very frustrated when they can't find an ID for themselves!

The site where I spotted the nudi is turning uo some incredible stuff, pipehorse and the most friendly garden eels in the world, plus sea horses and loads of rarely seen fish (rarely seen elsewhere I should add!). Plan to spend a good amount of time exploring once my camera returns!

By the way I do agree that if more divers took the time to slow right down, and stop and look we'd find that a lot of rare stuff isn't as rare as we thought...

Sorry that I won't see you at DEMA this year - I HATE Las Vegas, the last time I was there I was robbed in the airport, a pick pocket stole my wallet / pocket book, with no credit card it was not a nice trip! Then I got food poisoning, during the journey home, and thats another story.... any hoo shan't be there, I will miss not being at the show, but next year I'll be back with a vengeance!

Keeping my eye out for interesting slugs and nudis for you...

K