Honorable Mention Nudibranchs
Jon Anderson
“Maculata“
Jon Anderson won a 12-night Passport to Paradise package with 4 nights Murex Manado, 4 nights Murex Bangka, 4 nights Lembeh Resort
The Story: The Monterey Bay has many fascinating species of nudibranchs though many of them are difficult to find or living on a unphotogenic substrate. Early into a critter hunt dive I came across this Triopha maculata nudibranch searching a blade of kelp for the bryozoans that it feeds on. I took a few photos of it before moving on to look for other subjects. After photographing several other macro subjects I decided to return to the blade of kelp to see if could get a better shot of the nudibranch. When I arrived I noticed that it was moving around the blade of kelp much quicker than it previously had been. Knowing it would be difficult to get a good shot of a moving nudibranch on a moving blade of kelp I decided to just wait and watch it for a few minutes. After a few minutes passed the nudibranch approached the near edge of the kelp and moved into a perched like pose, I knew that was my opportunity to get the shot. The visibility was not very good that day with a significant amount of particulate in the water, rather than cleaning the backscatter from the image I choose leave it feeling it adds a celestial ambiance to the image.
Location: Monterey, California, USA
Equipment Used: Nikon D850 Camera, Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Lens, Nauticam NA-D850 Housing, Backscatter MF-1 Strobe & OS-1 Snoot
Camera Settings: 1/250, F22, ISO 320
