Those Clownish Colours

For some reason I haven’t been photographing Clown nudibranches (Ceratosoma amoena) for about a year. Today it was there, shining on a vertical rock in the shade of the kelp canopy. I had my camera with me and, surprisingly, a macro lens on it (see my previous post on spring opportunities). I could not resist. I spent more than ten minutes observing its beauty, fighting the current and waves, waiting for my strobes to recharge in between shots and trying to press the shutter when the slugs were not covered with the moving algae.

The colours of the slug make me think. If somebody has told me there is an animal with orange dots on (almost) white skin I would laugh … and probably would not believe. If somebody has painted such an animal I would say it’s a fake. Yet it’s here, real and beautiful.

Keywords: “clown nudibranch” nudibranch doris clown undersea “clown doris” underwater “ceratosoma amoena” ceratosoma amoena “sea slug” slug orange dots purple horns gills white skin macro close-up “close up” pacific ocean animal fauna