Odysseys of George

So here I am, back from a long hiatus after getting drawn deep into facebook and also into a personal and emotional roller coaster.

So the theme for the week is Small and in keeping with diving as my sub theme, I present to you the Nudibranch collections.

Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Order Nudibranchia

Nudibranchs belong to sea slugs. They are slow moving bottom dwellers.They have soft bodies and most of them lack an external protective shell. Their secondary gills are exposed outside, as reflected by their name “nudibranch” meaning “nude/naked gills”. Some nudibranchs have numerous body projections (called “cerata”) increasing the overall body surface and enhancing breathing. Nudibranchs carry a pair of horn-like cephalic tentacles or “rhinophores” at the front, that are used primarily as chemosensory organs (sensing chemicals). To protect themselves from predators many developed toxic or bad tasting glands in the skin, and their bright colors warn predators of their horrible taste. Nudibranchs possess fantastic coloration and color patterns. Nudibranchs cannot be taken away or preserved - they loose their shape and colors.

Pteraeolidia ianthina

Nembrotha spp.

Chelidonura spp

Chromodoris spp

Phyllidia spp

Chromodoris magnifica

Hypselodoris bullocki

There is more but I will probably bore you guys. Enjoy!

PhotoHunt

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am and is filed under General, photo hunters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.