photo by Greg Hofmann

10/10/2005: Last week, Reserve Education Coordinator Kenton Parker was checking some research crab traps near the south end of the footbridge on the South Marsh Loop when he noticed small white ribbons in the water that he recognized as some sort of egg mass. Looking closer he saw dozens of nudibranchs and brought one back to the education lab (where it subsequently produced two curled white ribbons of eggs). As it crawled along the side of its tank, we got this macro-closeup – the animal is only about an inch long (click here for an even closer look in a new window). We think this is probably Polycera hedgpethi. The genus name means "many horned," and the species name is for Joel Hedgpeth (selected writings), a friend and colleague of legendary marine biologist Ed Ricketts.