Marshall Islands Sea Slugs
Our favorite close-up photo subjects are the sea slugs, including nudibranchs and their relatives. More than 500 different kinds have been found in the Marshall Islands, not all of which are yet represented by pictures on this site.
We have many years of diving experience in the Marshalls, including many thousands of hours in the water. Most of this has been at Kwajalein Atoll, from which we have also travelled to nearby Namu Atoll and isolated Lib Island. One of us spent several years at the Mid-Pacific Research Lab on Enewetak Atoll, including two research trips there in the 1970s and a stint as a member of the lab staff in the early 1980s. While a member of the lab staff, I made research trips to Bikini, Rongelap, Utirik, and Ujelang Atolls in the northern Marshalls. For much of our time in the Marshalls, we have been on the lookout for sea slugs, both for scientific study and for the pure enjoyment in their colors, shapes, and fascinating natural history.
Each of the thumbnails below takes you to another page that contains a list of links by scientific name. Those links lead to pics and a bit of information about each of the different species. The thumbnail and first line below it link to a list of species with thumbnail images. For slower net connections, you can select the "(linked list only)" line, which will link to a quicker-to-load list by name only.
Recently added or updated pages are listed here. Despite the years of searching, we continue to see species here that we have not before seen, so with luck this site will continue to be updated.
If you have comments or disagree with any identifications, don't hesitate to contact us at uwkwaj@yahoo.com. And if you're in or have been in the Marshalls and have seen species you cannot find on these pages, we'd like to hear about it.
Here are a few more nudibranchs from some of our travels:
Pohnpei, Caroline Islands,
Federated States of Micronesia (thumbnails) (list
only)
The Solomon Islands (intro)
(thumbnails) (list
only)
California's Channel Islands
Mexico's Sea of Cortez
Hawaiian Islands
Many more slugs and lots of information about them can be found by following these links:
The
Australian Museum's Sea Slug Forum
Mike
Miller's Slug Site
Cory
Pittman and Pauline Fiene's Sea Slugs of Hawaii
Robert
Bolland's Okinawa Slug Site
Irwin
Koehler's Mediterranean Slug Site and more
These pages also link to other great nudibranch sites.
Our thanks to Cory Pittman for thoughtful discussion of the animals and for suggesting identifications for a number of species figured here.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text by Scott and Jeanette Johnson, In-Depth Images Kwajalein.
Higher resolution copies of photos on this site for publication or prints suitable for framing are available for a fee. Contact uwkwaj@yahoo.com for more information.
