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By Bruce Shafer
scubashafer.comPARTING
SHOT
114
|
WINTER 2016
I
came upon this beautiful
redline
Flabellina
(
Flabellina rubrolineata
)
on a night dive in the
Philippines. These tiny
nudibranchs rarely reach an
inch and half long, and this
one was less than an inch.
They are difficult to spot
during the day, but when
your light shines on one at
night, it’s time to stop and
take a picture.
The extremely colorful
Flabellinas
, a genus in the
suborder Aeolidina, are
carnivorous. Our subject
is laying eggs on the dead
skeleton of a hydroid —
the hydroid colony was
presumably just eaten prior
to being used as a foundation
for the egg-sack cluster.
Nudibranchs abandon
their eggs after laying them
in spots that offer close
food sources for their newly
hatched young. Divers often
see nudibranch egg clusters,
but this elegant redline
Flabellina
actually laying
eggs was a rare find.
AD
EQUIPMENT:
Nikon D300, 105mm lens, Subal housing, Ikelite strobes (2)
SETTINGS:
1/160 sec. @ f/22, ISO 100
LOCATION:
Sunview, Anilao, Batangas, Philippines