Rainbow Seaslug

See here the find I alluded to in the last post: a Rainbow Seaslug! When turning rocks last Monday, on a cold but sunny (and rainy) afternoon, a multi-coloured blob (see below) immediately caught my attention. This is only the second time I found one (the first time I did not have my camera to hand) so I was very excited. This species (Babakina anadoni) is not only over-the-top in its colouration but also a newcomer to British shores, having only been reported for the first time in the Scillies in 2022 and on mainland Britain in 2023 (on the very same shore here in Falmouth). It now is sighted regularly so seems to be establishing itself.

Because it was only a few degrees I had opted for rockpooling instead of snorkeling, but as this was my chance, I left the overturned rock to walk back to the car and chang into my wetsuit and found it back. By gently lowering the rock in a pool I was able to take underwater photos. (Some people manage to submerge their camera only when they are out in waders but that approach just does not work for me.) Seaslugs are fairly slow but small (this one was maybe 15 mm) so it is not easy to photograph them. I always go through many aperture/ISO/shutterspeed/strobe output combinations before shots become acceptable. One way of shooting nudis is to use a very small aperture to get as much of the animal in focus, another is to use a larger aperture to only have (parts of) the head in focus, leaving behind the often cluttered background. I am still figuring out what works best for me!

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