Studies of satiation in Melibe leonina

摘要

As I swam through the kelp bed in Friday Harbor, I scanned each blade of algae fervently, searching for my quarry. With each empty frond I grew less and less hopeful, until at last, in the distance, I saw a blade surrounded by ghostly apparitions. As I drew closer, several of them detached from the kelp and swam off, bending slowly from head to tail. Others remained and continued to feed, sweeping their heads forward with contortive movements to pull microscopic prey from the water. In this moment I was struck by the bizarre yet wonderful nature of this species, the nudibranch Melibe leonina.