Destination of the Species

During the past few trips to Cocos Island I have been able to find several species previously unknown to reside there. One is an undescribed Flabellina Nudibranch of the Aeolid species (above). The members of this family have names that use words like Rhinophore to describe their appendages which seem more like something you would see on an artist rendering of a dinosaur than a delicate deep sea creature. The other creature found is a Side Gilled Slug called Berthella Californica (below). The name denotes a slimy undesireable, with extremely primitive features. Yet the name is deceptive again and does nothing to describe the delicate beauty this "slug" exibits. If you look close it even appears to have tiny pearls on its back. One always hopes to find something new, but my search for a new species will have to continue since these are both known to science. The Nudibranch is still an undescribed species though, and a specimen may be able to be aquired soon from Cocos, since our submersible DeepSee is getting fitted with a hydrolic arm soon. The specimens we have seen have been in the 80m - 180m (240ft - 600ft) ranges so diving on an open circute system to retrive a specimen would be difficult at best. I would like to thank John E. McCosker, Chair of Aquatic Biology at the California Academy of Sciences , and Dr. Terrance Gosliner also at the California Academy of Sciences for their help in identifying these species on Cocos Island.