Rarely seen Nudibranch

Kraken and the Boys should ace this one. 
Romblon island, 12 hrs. south of Batangas, Philippines. June 2022

The skeletal looking nudibranch is a Melibe colemani.  It is considered the  holy grail of nudribranchs, and is said to always thrill those who find it.

 Corinne Borbeillon has this to say (1):

"The Melibe colemani is a nudibranch filterer who was named after the man who discovered it, the Australian naturalist and photographer Neville Coleman (1938-2012). A find made at Mabul, the neighboring island of Sipadanin Malaysia, near Borneo: Coleman published the very first image of it in 2008, in its Nudibranchs Encyclopedia.

I really like his account of the dive during which he saw and photographed for the first time this curious creature, hitherto unknown to scientists. It also took him a long time to really see what he had in front of him... The story is told here on this American site of enthusiasts:

→ The Slug Site: Melibe colemani (3)

 Here too we can see the bodies, red in the middle of the transparent body. (Romblon, Philippines, March 2017)  The swell folds its excrescences on one side. (Romblon, Philippines, March 2017)  The Melibe colemani crawls, its progression is fascinating to observe. (Romblon, Philippines, March 2017)

The nomenclature and scientific description of the species were only established in 2012 (one month after Coleman's death) by two marine biologists specializing in nudibranchs, the Spanish Marta Pola and the American Terrence Gosliner (2).  

In addition to Mabul in Malaysia, Melibe colemani has also been observed in Indonesia: Komodo and Lembeh. In the Philippines, Romblon, divers at The Three P Center spotted it for the first time in 2013.

The species is probably widespread in the waters of the Coral Triangle. But this nudibranch is so hard to see, that it is not surprising that it was discovered only recently. Especially coveted by the divers photographers macro, it is considered a rarity. The advantage in Romblon is that the guides know where to find them."   (end quote).

References

1. Borbeillon, Corinne: Melibe colemani, the Grail of Nudibranchs. Romblon, Philippines.  https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/en/nudibranche-melibe-colemani-20170605/

2. Gosliner, T and Pola, M: Diversification of filter feeding nudibranchs: Two remarkalbe new species of Melibe from the tropical western pacific.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772000.2012.717551

3. Behrens D. and Miller, M:  Melibe colemani.  The Slug Site.      . http://slugsite.us/bow2007/nudwk804.htm

Kraken, will present a tougher one tomorrow.

Good job!

Terry