Goniobranchus sp. B

Lindsay first found and photographed this beautiful species in Lembeh, North Sulawesi, Indonesia in November 2015 (Photo at left). It had not been featured in any id book and had apparently not been seen again anywhere else until recently - September 2017 when we found it considerably further south in Bima Bay, Sumbawa and then further east in the Komodo National Park during the Wunderpus trip (Photo at top). Since then it has also been photographed in Bali, so its range is expanding.

Goniobranchus sp. B (as designated on Jim Anderson's website) appears to vary in length from 10-30 mm and has been found in a depth range of 13.5 - 24.5 m. Notable features: overall white/cream coloured body with deep orange red anterior mantle margin which diffuses into a paler orange band. Further along the sides of the mantle, the anterior coloration changes to a thin translucent white edge with a wider solid or broken purple/blue submarginal band; many small bright yellow spots are evenly distributed in the white area of the notum. The foot features a thin translucent edge with an inner narrow band of purple/blue. The rhinophores have translucent white stalks with translucent orange red lamellate clubs; the gill is translucent white with orange red down the outer edge. The oral tentacles are tipped in purple/blue.

Lindsay's shots were taken using a Nikon D300s with a 105 mm lens in an Aquatica housing plus a Macromate 2:1 wet diopter and with 1 x Inon Z-240 strobe.

Pirjo used a Nikon D 300 with a Nikon 60 mm, in a Sealux housing with two Inon Z-240 strobes.

Jim used Sony a6000 with Zeiss 50 mm macro lens in Nauticam housing with a CMC-1 diopter in flip holder; 2 x D2000 Inon flash guns and a Sola 1200 spotting light.

Lindsay, Pirjo and Jim are all regular contributors to the Slug Site, fb nudibranch pages and publications.

As regulars to the Slug Site will already know from seeing her previous contributions, Lindsay's fascination with all things aquatic began as a small child and this has carried on throughout her life. However, it was only when at university that she discovered that diving was not just the prerogative of the elite. Beginning in 1974 with her first OW dive in 1975 near Marseilles, France, she noted in her logbook finding a nudibranch but had no idea what it was at the time. However many years later she was happily able to identify it.

On the photographic front, the only reason she ever took it up was purely to document what she saw when diving. She started with a second-hand Nikonos II, then a Nikonos III and later progressed to a Nikon F3 in an Aquatica housing. However, she became an accomplished photographer of land & air wildlife as well as human life events, capturing special moments. And yet still her first love remains with mollusks.

Having dived in many areas of the world including the UK, the Mediterranean, (Spain, France, Corsica), Red Sea (Israel & Egypt), Bahamas, USA (Florida, California, Hawaii), St Lucia, Montserrat, South Africa, Madagascar, Brazil, Fiji, Tonga, French Polynesia, the Tukang Besi Archipelago (SE Sulawesi, Indonesia), Lindsay now spends most of her time in Indonesia diving in places such as Bali, Alor, Lembeh as well as Sangeang, Komodo, Flores, Sumbawa, but also in the species rich Philippines.