Image of sargassum nudibranch

Description:

I collected some Sargassum fluitans that washed ashore near Port Aransas, Texas, after Hurricane Dolly made landfall at South Padre Island. I brought a bag of Sargassum to the lab and washed it in freshwater to collect any organisms that were on the seaweed. I found a small, dead specimen of the Sargassum Nudibranch, Scyllaea pellagica, about 10 mm long (it grows to about ten times larger). It did not have the orange-brown color of fresh specimens. This nudibranch is associated with Sargassum and floats around the Gulf of Mexico. It occurs worldwide in warm waters. Although it does not have a shell, it is included in the project Texas Seashells.