Nudibranchs, as many of you know, do not always have the easiest of names to remember, There are so many of them and they tend to be called things like Dark Margin Glossodoris (Glossodoris atromarginata) or Much Desired Flabellina (Flabellina exopata)….
One of my favourite nudis is the subject of this week’s video, It is a very beautiful pink colour, with lovely yellow/orange rhinopores and gills. And this nudi has, for me, one of the easiest names to remember, Hypselodoris bullocki. I always find it easy to remember by using a simple bit of word association…the nudi is pink, pink is generally a feminine colour, Sandra Bullock is a female and is a fairly hip actor, so Bullock’s Hypselodoris (Hypselodoris bullocki)) becomes simple to recall!
What made this nudi even more noteworthy is it’s little hitchhiker. We sometimes find Emperor Shrimp living on nudibranchs, and it’s always good to see. But what I had never seen was a fish living on a nudi, but that’s what seems to be happening here.
As I was filming this beautiful nudi I noticed a little head peeking around from behind the gills. It was a little Goby!! As the nudi was moving around the little goby stayed on it’s body, and as I was filming and moving around it stayed right there. It definitely did not look like it had just jumped on.. it looked like a permanent resident! It’s always wonderful to see some new behaviour, especially when it looks so good.
