So today was very exciting! On the first scooter dive from Oneuli Beach with Daniel Moth, I spotted a nudibranch I had never seen before, a quite pretty one (photos below of course). Daniel had never seen it either, and also got a couple of pictures. Once home, I tried to ID it, but it was not in the Hawaii marine invertebrate book I have, nor on SeaSlugsofHawaii.com (the definitive source on sea slugs in Hawaii), nor on MarinelifePhotography.com. It did resemble a species, Goniobranchus geometricus (Geometry nudibranch), on MarinelifePhotography.com but that said it was only known and reported in Indonesia and Western Pacific, of which Hawaii is neither. So I assumed it was not that one. Stumped, I posted my picture on SeaSlugsofHawaii.com’s Facebook private group, and the proprietor, marine biologist Cory Pittman, confirmed that it was indeed the Goniobranchus geometricus and my sighting represented the first reported sighting of that species in Hawaii. 🙂
So Cory created a page on his site for it, SeaSlugsofHawaii.com – Goniobranchus geometricus, and credited me for the find!
I do have to admit that for a moment there I was hoping it was a new species that I would then get to name it, e.g. Goniobranchus goldbergeri. One day. 🙂
