Miamira Flavicostata

Miamira Flavicostata
Miamira Flavicostata

There is something wonderfully wrong-looking about this nudibranch. Purple folds and blazing orange markings swell into a series of soft peaks along its back, while a pale, polka-dotted body seems to spill out underneath. Its gills flare upward in a tangled red plume, and two tall feelers give it the appearance of some miniature creature from another planet. Curious, ornate, and entirely unconcerned with looking like anything else in the sea.

• Size: Up to around 85 mm
• Range: Indo-West Pacific; from the Red Sea and East Africa through the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, New Guinea and eastern Australia
• Habitat / Depth: Rocky reefs and other hard-bottom habitats, from shallow water to around 25 m
• Diet: Feeds on sponges

Photo by Andrew Taylor Jones