Here is a nice little Halloween Hermit crab, (Cliopagurus strigatus) from Triton Bay. When you see such bright colors you ask "where does the orange come from?" It turns out that this guy generates astaxanthin from lutein in its diet. Astaxanthins have a bunch of interesting uses in medicine, one important use is as a killer of reactive oxygen species that cause inflammation. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little comb tooth blenny (Alloblennius) from Triton Bay. These guys are always smiling and you can see why they are called comb tooth. Enjoy.

We went diving yesterday on our favorite boat the Giant Stride with friends. Nice day, water was not terribly cold (54 F) and vis at the bottom was 20+ feet. Here is a nice little Spanish shawl (Flabellonopsis iodinea) sitting all curled up. Remember that all the colors here are stereoisomers of astaxanthin. Stereo isomers means that the molecules are handed like gloves. Also interesting is that these guys excrete mucus so they don't get stung when they eat their lunch (hydroids) and the composition of the mucus depends on what they are eating. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little Gymnodoris from Triton Bay. These guys are voracious hunters of other nudibranchs. It turns out that there is a flatworm Pseudoceros sp. (see inset) that mimics the Gymnodoris. It is not clear who is imitating whom? I suspect that the worm is tasty and mimics the Goniodoris who is not so palatable and this is Batesian mimicry. This kind of mimicry is also known where Ps. imitatus mimics a Phyllidiella. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little Balonophyllia elegans (I think) from a dive yesterday with friends on the Giant Stride. Beautiful day topside, cold water and a weird current at the end of the day. This stony coral is interesting, it is one of the few organisms that can actually get nutrition from dissolved organic carbon. This would be better news if corals that live in areas where water temps are rising and CO2 is leading to acidification, but at least here in So Cal, they get much of their nutrition in the colder months from dissolved carbon. In any case, enjoy.

In Today's LA times there was an article that Chagas disease and its associated kissing bugs are now in California. This nudibranch (Felimida baumanni) from the Sea of Cortez contains a terpenoid (see inset) that is active against the Trypanazoma the cause the disease. And he is quite pretty too. Enjoy.

Can Nudibranchs get Gout? Here is a nice little Spanish Shawl from our dive yesterday with friends on the Giant Stride. If you look at the rhinophores (the red bits) you see a white stripe. While the colors (blue, orange, red, purple) are all isomers of astaxanthin, the white stripes are actually reflective bits of stacked purines. Purines are the bases that make RNA and DNA (adenine and guanine are purines) and when they stack up they are reflective. They are also the causative agent for gout when they break down to uric acid that stacks the same way. In any case enjoy.

Here is a nice little Hermissenda from our dive last weekend. These guys have taught us a lot about conditioning. For example they normally move toward light and away from turbulence. If you condition them with light and turbulence their behavior completely changes. In a very interesting paper they show that optical signals are also the key to memory, linking potassium channel excitation to memory. In any case enjoy.

In Alor today, there were a ton of fire dart fish around. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little squid from our black water dive last night on the Samambaia. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little heteropod from a black water dive last night. In researching heteropod heart rates (that beat faster at higher temperatures) I came across a paper from 1925 (Glaser) who said, “Manipulative and experimental ineptitudes like these are perhaps useful in suggesting methods by which the heart might be controlled, but unfortunately they may also prove highly misleading.” Glad he never saw me in the lab. In any case, enjoy.

Here is a nice little Cyerce kikutarobabai from our trip to Alor. Enjoy.

Here is a nice little immortal (yes immortal) jelly. More on him later.

Here is a nice little Unidentia angelvaldes (I think), named after a nudibranch professor at Cal Poly Pomona. Note the genus is unidentified yet, I am sure DNA is on the way. In any case enjoy.