Janolus sp.

Photo courtesy of Robert Yin
Sangeang Island, Indonesia north of Komodo Island
July 6th, 2004
Est size: 25mm

Once again we are treated to what appears to be another undescribed species coming out of the Komodo's area of Indonesia which has been described in general as part of the "golden triangle" of marine biodiversity in the Asia Pacific area. Bob Yin (AKA Uncle Bob) found his Janolus on recent cruise to the Komodos on the Aqua One in July of this year. Earlier this year Bob was the featured presenter with an undescribed Hypselodoris that was also found in the Komodos island group.

As noted by Bill Rudman on the Sea Slug Forum , a distinguishing feature of the genus is the orange "warty" lump like crest seen between the rhinophores. If any of you readers have a handle on this species, we would like to hear from you. At this point in time, there is little more that can be said about taxonomy. It could possibly be a color variant of a Janolus sp. put up on the Slug Site some years ago. With that said and done, a little discussion on how this photo was taken might be in order.

As in the manner of Anthony Holley and a host of other nudibranch enthusiasts based on increased submissions to this site in the past year or so, it is becoming very evident that inexpensive "point and shoot" cameras are expanding the image data base of our slug friends faster than they can be assimilated by those studying sea slugs. Bob and I have been discussing the pro's and con's of having an external strobe as part of your digital Underwater System. I use an Inon D180-S external strobe which has worked out great in terms of reducing shadow area and extending my shooting range beyond extreme macro. But if I wasn't interested in shooting anything beyond 1 ft., do I really need a external strobe? Probably with appropriate shields or reflecting devices, one could bounce the light into the "shadow" areas that sometimes appear because of the onboard's strobe location. As noted in Bob's bio section, he did not use a second strobe to take the above image. Also, an image taken with the same camera setup of a parrot fish tied for first place in the advanced division of our SDUPS club competition last month. The other first place image was taken with an N-90 in a Subal housing by Tracy Clark, who I consider to be one of the outstanding U/W photographers in our club.

Guess what I am saying is that it is possible to take the branch picture of your dreams without an extensive outlay of money. Just use a little imagination and let us know how it worked out. Enough said, this discussion is gone far afield of what is normally discussed in this section and I may be taken to task by Dave Behrens who is out on business matters this week.

As an active member of the San Diego Underwater Photographic Society , Robert Yin has been taking underwater photographs world-wide for over 30 years, specializing in the Philippines. His photographs have appeared in many magazines and books including Skin Diver, Ocean Realm, Discover Diving, Philippines Airlines' Mabuhay Magazine, Action Asia, Asian Diver, National Geographic, Trauchen, Espacio Profundo, Sport Divers Journal, and scientific journals. He has won many photographic awards including Nikon Photo Contest International. He was a presenter at the 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1998 San Diego Underwater Film Festivals. His photos have been exhibited in galleries including Sea Center Santa Barbara, S. Birch Aquarium-Museum San Diego, Cabrillo Aquarium, Manila Hotel and the Monterey Aquarium. Bob's photo was taken with a Fuji F700 in its Fuji underwater housing using the camera strobe -- no external strobe. For those of you that have kids, you might be interested in Bob's series of books on Marine Life For Young Readers . For the adults, Bob has a coffee table book "Beneath Philippine Seas" based on his extensive diving experience in the Philippines. Send Bob mail at ryin1@san.rr.com

© The Slug Site, Michael D. Miller 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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