Two new nudi sightings for me!

After a long month of absence from the shores, I am back this time at Semakau to do guiding. Yes, I haven't guided at Semakau for more than half a year. Therefore, I was pretty excited about today's trip.

My excitement materialized partly to be two first-time nudibranch sightings for me personally, though some others may have seen them before.


The first nudibranch is the Varicose phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia varicosa)! It is bigger than the other usual phyllid nudibranchs that we see. And it is just so stunningly beautiful with its bright colours!

This nudibranch has a long body that has bumps (called tubercles) without feathery external gills on the back.


I like the yellow tips at the end of the bumps. The bluish bumps looks a bit like sponge as it looks porous from this photo. Haha! Thanks Ron for spotting this awesome slug.


I have been missing sightings of this Starry mouthed nudibranch (Bornella stellifer) and finally got to see it today. I first spotted this at where the mangroves are so it was quite a surprise that it is quite high up on the shore. This species is slightly different from the one I've seen before at Beting Bronok.


It is said to be able to swim by flexing its long body from side to side. But this fellow looks really tired caused by the sun as today was really hot and it was trapped in a shallow pool on the high shore.

Nevertheless, today was a great trip! Will blog more about our sightings and adventures on a later date, so stay tuned!