Read this while I'm working on my next post

So I think I may have mentioned that nudibranchs are some of my favorite animals. Why? Well, they are weird and cool looking and really awesome colors. But it turns out they have interesting sexual behavior too (well, lots of animals do). First off, nudibranchs are hermaphrodites so that is pretty interesting. But interesting news hit last week about this species that has a detachable male reproductive organ. Yes, you read that right. Click for more.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34378/title/The-Detachable-Penis/

Spanish dancer in the water

I saw a really cool animal yesterday in the water near the lab. At first I thought it was a piece of trash, but then I looked again and it turned out to be a nudibranch. A nudi-what? They are sea slugs, like snails without shells. Nudibranchs come in all different cool colors, but this one is bright red. Usually nudibranchs crawl across the bottom, but this one floats up in the water column and undulates its sides, so it looks like a flamenco dancer twirling its skirts. It is called a Spanish dancer (species name is Hexabranchus morsomus).