This is Hexabranchus sanguineus or Spanish Dancer
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The Spanish Dancer, Hexabranchus sanguineus, which literally means '“blood-colored six-gills”.
This interesting creature is a nudibranch or sea slug. It is known to be one of the largest species. This creature gets the name Spanish Dancer because of the way it moves. Typically it is crawling with the edges of it’s mantle curling upwards, but when disturbed it will unfold it’s edges and will flee thru undulations of the body…..looking like a Spanish Flamenco Dancer!
The nudibranchs body is soft and flattened with an elongated oval shape. The head section has a pair of retractable rhinophores (kind of like antenas/hornlike antlers/tentacles). They are essentially scent/taste receptors that are chemosensory organs. They detect chemicals that are dissolved in the sea water to locate food or other nudibranchs. Nudibranch means naked gills, and they can be seen on the rear and look very frilly or feather-like.
Usually seen at night, as they are nocturnal feeders. They eat mainly sponges and they have the ability to adsorb toxins from them, that they can then use as protection against predators. How cool is that? They can be seen occasionally during the daytime, in dark crevices or under coral/rock ledges.
The image above was taken during a Private Ocean Project Maui Snorkel Tour.
This colorful image was taken off a West Maui Beach by the dedicated staff of Ocean Project Maui. They offer custom, private snorkel tours around the island of Maui, Hawaii. Each #COLORSOFTHEOCEAN image you see in our monthly blog, was captured during a private guided snorkel tour. These amazing images, as well as images above and below the water of the clients/supporters are included in every tour at no additional cost.
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