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Mexichromis pusilla
Image courtesy of
Scott Johnson
Delima dive site, Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi. 20 December 2013.
. This animal was exposed on a small rock on a slope at a depth of about 25m.
Photo taken with a Sony HC9 video camera in still mode in a Light & Motion Bluefin underwater housing.
Lighting was provided by one Light & Motion Sola 1200 light.
Critter Hunt dive site, Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi
 | Mexichromis (previously Durvilledoris) pusilla (Bergh, 1874) revisited
When you see a gorgeous photo like this, it is no wonder there are so many nudibranch enthusiasts around the world. This one of the species that Bill Rudman refers to as the Noumea purpurea colour group. This color group includes ten species belonging to the previous genera Chromodoris, Noumea, Pectenodoris, Hypselodoris and Durvilledoris. All species are pink or purple with a whitish border and whitish longitudinal lines on the body. Bill points out that while the species may look closely related, their internal anatomy show them to be quite distinct and of different genera. The species is reported to occur in New South Wales, Australia; Indonesia, Philippine Islands, the Marshall Islands, and Okinawa. Sorry about the name change - I must admit I am not totally up to speed with all the recent relocations yet myself. Just one more reason to reprint - Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs. If you haven't already visited Scott's Marshall Island's Slug site, then do so-you're in for a real treat!
Sammamish, WA 98074 Aug., 2014 Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
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Scott Johnson with feathered friend (circa 2007)
Photo courtesy of Hans Bertsch
 | Scott and Jeanette Johnson certainly need no introduction to the readers of this site. Scott shoots the video and Jeanette the stills! Scott and I are kindred spirits in our video aspirations(actually Scott is already there, I'm doing the aspiring). We both shoot video of sea slugs although in my case, it is often to the exclusion of other subjects. I recently made a trip to Isla Mujeres in Mexico to swim with the whale sharks and take video with my GoPro as a short lived diversion from macro videography. What a disappointing experience! The GoPro performed well in the total chaos that prevails there but otherwise it was a total bust! There were 75 boats in a one mile square area with a very limited population of whale sharks feeding! I'm getting off topic but came back from that trip fully resolved to continue videoing my friends the sea slugs. Anyhow, Scott and I both face the challenge of what path to take in the way of upgrading our equipment. Our systems are dated but you would never know it considering the quality of Scott's image above! Scott is using a Sony HC-9 and I go further back with an HC-3! The whole question of where to go video wise has been a continuning topic at our video club meetings. Several members are already moving into 4k as affordable 4k monitors are just now becoming available in the states for less than 1K. Well, to see 4k on our monitor we need 4k video capapbility. That is going to cost us around 2k for a camcorder! The camcorder begets a housing and now we're looking at another 3 to 4k. Let's see! We haven't even considered, UW lights,a new computer to process the 4k video, and the 4k TV to watch our video! You can see the 4k approach can be a path to the poor house! Let's see, a nudibranch video in 4k! I love it! But given the economics of getting there, think I will stay in the standby mode a bit longer!
Michael Miller |
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