Nudibranch

Thanks, António. Sharing information was what motivated me to start documenting nudibranchs in Portugal 15 years ago.

Another beauty João,congrats on the well deserved FOTD and thanks for sharing your awesome collection and great knowledge with all of us.

Thanks for the distinction, Daniele.

Congratulations João Pedro Silva! Your spotting has been chosen for Project Noah Fact of the Day: ": The nudibranch, Marionia blainvillea, is found in the western Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic waters. Adults range in color from a pale translucent orange to a deeper reddish brown with irregular patches of white. Juveniles of the species are white.

Nudibranch (Marionia blainvillea) spotted in Portugal by PN member João Pedro Silva".
https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/pho...

Thanks, Mark. The juvenile form is retained at least until they reach 20 mm. Then they start growing very fast and reach 100 mm easily. The adults are voracious predators and feed on many species of soft corals. Juveniles are difficult to find because they're small and mostly transparent. Adults are difficult to find because they usually live deep, beyond recreational diving limits (~40 meters deep) and also because they're well camouflaged: the bright red is rendered as dark green because the water absorbs most of the red component of the natural light.
If you set a slideshow on flickr with 5 seconds for each image you'll be done in less than 12 hours :)

..your flickr collection is incredible.. I will lose a few hours there for sure :)

So delicate! Must be difficult to find. What is the size?