Nudibranchs of Pohnpei, Caroline Islands,
Federated States of Micronesia

Pohnpei is a few hundred miles west of the Marshall Islands. It is a high island surrounded (mostly) by a barrier reef enclosing a lagoon filled with shallow coral reefs and small islands. The lagoon tends to be a bit turbid from run-off from the high island, so much of the diving takes place in passes in the barrier reef, where clear ocean water flows in and out with the changing of the tides. Diving here makes an interesting change from the low atoll islands in the Marshalls, and it is not too far away, so we've made a number of trips down there to seek and photograph slugs we don't find in the Marshalls. This is by no means an exhaustive treatment of Pohnpei nudibranchs; we have only scratched the surface of what is there. Likewise, it is hard to say too much about the biology and distribution of species from a half dozen or so week-long trips. (Anyone else find it odd how some researchers can make sweeping statements and come to such definitive conclusions from a 2-week environmental survey? Heck, I can't be as certain as others seem to be in some of the reports I've seen even after more than 20 years in the Marshalls!)

All our diving in Pohnpei has been through The Village Hotel, a great place to stay in general but also with its own dive shop that employs some eagle-eyed nudibranch-aware dive guides. Just down the hill from the Village, they keep up a small boat landing with several long powerboats used for dive trips and other excursions. And yes, there are many other fascinating photo subjects in the Pohnpei marine environment--manta rays, sharks, eagle rays, schools of barracuda or ulua, angelfish, anemones and clownfish, shrimp gobies, gorgeous soft corals, colorful flatworms, and on and on--but we'll leave most of those for another time and place.

The Village also offers boat trips to the ancient ruins of Nan Madol and to a refreshing waterfall.

After a day on the water, you can sit back in the gazebo with a tall cold one and watch the scenery, waiting for another run-of-the-mill tropical sunset.

No attempt has been made here to put the species listed below into taxonomic order. We may do that in the future if the list gets too long from addition of more species. We will be returning to hunt for more!

Although slower to load, the same list with thumbnails can be found here.

Aegires gardineri
Aegires minor
Aegires serenae
Ardeadoris egretta
Chromodoris annae
Chromodoris coi
Chromodoris elisabethina
Chromodoris geometrica
Chromodoris kuniei
Chromodoris magnifica
Chromodoris strigata
Discodoris concinna
Flabellina rubrolineata
Halgerda tessellata
Hypselodoris decorata
Nembrotha cristata
Nembrotha kubaryana
Nembrotha lineolata
Petalifera cf lafonti
Phidiana indica
Phyllidia carlsonhoffi
Phyllidia coelestis
Phyllidia elegans
Phyllidia exquisita
Phyllidia madangensis
Phyllidia ocellata
Phyllidia tula
Phyllidia sp. p359
Phyllidiella granulata
Phyllidiella pustulosa
Phyllidiopsis burni
Phyllidiopsis fissurata
Phyllidiopsis striata
Platydoris scabra
Pteraeolidia ianthina
Reticulidia fungia
Tambja morosa

In-Depth Images Kwajalein is Scott and Jeanette Johnson.