Invasion of the (Beautiful) Bright Pink Sea Slugs
“We’d never seen Hopkins’ rose nudibranchs in Humboldt until this year – now we’re seeing this,” tweeted local author and fish biologist M. Sid Kelly with the above photo.
The bright pink sea slugs appear to be moving northward in response to rising temperatures, says National Geographic. Normally, they aren’t found much north of San Francisco but, as Kelly’s photo shows…these times aren’t normal.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Photo by M. Sid Kelly, a local fish biologist and author. Check out his SciFi books here as well as his non-fiction book, Tigerfish!
If you’ve got a nature photo or video to share, send it to [email protected].
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
So awsome looking.
Even if it’s a bad sign, it’s certainly a lot rosier than all the maniacs yelling that our coast is a dead zone from Fukushima radiation… and pretty….
Change is the one constant in nature. Species come and go. These guys are pretty showy.
Uti is a wise dude. Hopefully the human species isn’t one to go…
Does anyone know how much the sea temp on the Humboldt coast has risen?
Oh, the article says 3 to 5 degrees.
“At present, northern California ocean waters are 3 to 5°F (1.6 to 2.7°C) above the long-term average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
Thanks Kym. I found it reading the article. Did anyone download the jigsaw puzzles?
I confess to doing one until my workaholic side chastised me.
Are these somewhere we can see them from shore?
They are found in tidepools but which Humboldt tidepools?…I don’t know
Someone going by the name of Spencer Dybdahl Riffle over on LoCO’s #HumboldtCounty instagram feature has posted some beautiful photographs of local nudibranches. The ocean is an astonishing world unto itself.
Wow!
Banana slugs moved out of the sea from embarrassment….
Does anyone know if the Palmer point trail is still washed out at the bottom?
[…] the Pacific Ocean heats, the brightly-colored slug has migrated north, and seems at home here. Via Redheaded Blackbelt on Monday: ‘“We’d never seen Hopkins’ rose nudibranchs in Humboldt until this year […]