Dendronotus Density Dispatch

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Tidepools on the north side of Haystack boasted a startling abundance of nudibranchs in the genus Dendronotus. "Dendrites" is Greek for "treelike." Upon close examination, these creatures with branching bodies did appear treelike.

Individual dendrontid against a background bryozoan.
From a distance, however, the dendrontids looked like a dense growth of algae carpeting the floor of the pool. 


The "blob" in the left-hand corner is a nudibranch "walking" upside down by moving its foot across the surface tension of the water. The mossy growths covering the sand are clusters of dendrontids in uncountable hundreds.

Courtesy of Stephen Grace
 

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