I heart nudibranches
Blogger: ‘Sea-slug girl’ aka Forest & Bird’s Marine Advocate Kirstie Knowles.
What absorbs 1/3 of our atmospheric carbon?
What is thought to hold over 80% of NZ’s unique plants and animals?
What has forests, volcanos (some of the largest lava fields) and mountains?
What holds the world’s tallest mountain?**
Where did we come from?
What covers two thirds of the earth?
Yep, you guessed it – the sea.
Seaweek kicked off this Sunday with a bunch of events in celebration of the deep, blue yonder that surrounds us.
Blue, salty and filled with a horde of colourful sea-critters – the sea has held my fascination for, er, 25 years and counting.
Having spent my first few years sploshing around on the sea’s surface, I shrugged off my earthbound existence and slipped beneath the surface with the help of an aqua-lung thirteen years ago
I have never looked back. Oh, to have fins and gills!
I am now a dive junkie. My weekends are best spent underwater, or if not, buried in my desk-side, bed-side tome – Nudibranchs of the World.
Once upon a time it was crabs that held my fascination – I did a thesis on their decorating behaviour – but since I clapped eyes on our lurid, miniscule sea-slugs or nudibranches * I never looked back.
Sure, they’re not cute or cuddly (as the colour suggests they’re highly toxic) but they’re just a little reminder that Nature Is Amazing.
Such is my fascination with these slugs that I actually plucked a rather unusual one from Wellington’s sea-floor during Seaweek 2007, and discovered it was new to science.
And as much as I would like to boast about my keen eyes, my dedicated research and my encyclopaedic mind, I think much of it comes down to the fact that new marine discoveries are being made everyday.
So if you’re hoping to make your name in marine science, or you want to know a little more about what lies beneath, then head along to some of the walks, talks, and sea-side get-togethers we’re planning over the coming week.
* The word “nudibranch” comes from the Latin nudus, naked, and the Greek brankhia, gills
** Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the world’s tallest mountain standing at 33,480 feet.
