Strange Creatures at Santa Rosa
Melibe leonina (hooded nudibranch) is a very strange looking sea slug. The tentacle-fringed oral hood is expandable and actively used to capture prey. They can swim by flexing the body back and forth. It has translucent body with paddle-shaped dorsal appendages. They almost look like a cute and strange creature from anime or Sci Fi movie. Once in a while we see a large aggregation of these nudibranchs on giant kelp at Santa Rosa Island, California. Their range stretches from Alaska to California.
