BajaNomad

What is this?

jak - 3-4-2011 at 02:33 PM

Seen in 8" of water as tide is going out in the Pacific.



Oso - 3-4-2011 at 02:40 PM

Ken Bondy should know.

mtgoat666 - 3-4-2011 at 02:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by jak
Seen in 8" of water as tide is going out in the Pacific.


a nudibranch

woody with a view - 3-4-2011 at 02:48 PM

i think we call them a sea cucumber? squeeze it. if it squirts a purple fluid like a squid, there you are.

Paulina - 3-4-2011 at 02:48 PM

My guess is a Navanax inermis - Striped Sea Hare

P>*)))>{

CP - 3-4-2011 at 03:04 PM

I think Paulina has it as Striped Sea Hare. On my first and last tide pool trip when we moved to Pacific coast BCS six years ago, I wheelied over with the variety of Nudibranch (Sea Cuce/Slug) that I found all in one set of pools. Amazing colors and shapes. Geez, I need to do that again....

Skipjack Joe - 3-4-2011 at 04:07 PM

Oh, I'm going to leave this one for Ken Bondy.

He knows what it is.

Pretty, aren't they?

And I've found them all the way up to San Diego. I think they range further north than that because it's in 'Between Pacific Tides'.

Looks like Paulina got it, though.

[Edited on 3-4-2011 by Skipjack Joe]

Barry A. - 3-4-2011 at 04:33 PM

[Edited on 3-5-2011 by Barry A.]

Ken Bondy - 3-4-2011 at 05:47 PM

Paulina's got it - Navanax inermis. They are similar to a nudibranch although they have an internal shell. Very beautiful - I probably have some better images but this is the first one I came across:



[Edited on 3-5-2011 by Ken Bondy]

jak - 3-4-2011 at 07:42 PM

Thanks to all, it is the Navanax Inermis, Striped Sea Hare.

So that means I made a Navanax Inermis taco for dinner the other night? :)

Just kidding.

Ken Bondy - 3-4-2011 at 07:53 PM

jak

Probably best to keep them out of your tacos, they are toxic :)

Ken Bondy - 3-4-2011 at 07:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
Oh, I'm going to leave this one for Ken Bondy.

He knows what it is.

Pretty, aren't they?

And I've found them all the way up to San Diego. I think they range further north than that because it's in 'Between Pacific Tides'.

Looks like Paulina got it, though.

[Edited on 3-4-2011 by Skipjack Joe]


Igor I've seen them as far north as Morro Bay, but I believe they have also been seen in Monterey Bay. They really are strikingly beautiful animals. They feed on other nudibranchs, I have seen one ingesting a Hermissenda crassicornis.

Skipjack Joe - 3-4-2011 at 10:35 PM

Yes, I was going to add that they are truly one of the very few members of the intertidal community that everything fears (like the sunstar). But decided to leave science out of it this time.

durrelllrobert - 3-5-2011 at 10:51 AM

looks like the sea cucumbers that are served raw in S. Korea restraunts

Ken Bondy - 3-5-2011 at 10:55 AM

Don't want to belabor this, but Navanax is not a sea cucumber, it is an Opistobranch, a marine snail.

Bob H - 3-5-2011 at 11:43 AM

That's it........

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Molluscs/Navanax.htm

marv sherrill - 3-5-2011 at 06:19 PM

They are also voracious predators - swallowing prey whole even other Navanaxes (Navani??). They are very fold of the delicate bubble shell snail, whose shell passes through the digestive tract unbroken! I know, tmi