Ologies with Alie Ward Nudibranchology (GLAMOROUS SEA SLUGS) with Jessica Goodheart and Terry Gosliner
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Apr 1, 2026 Jessica Goodheart, mollusk researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, and Terry Gosliner, veteran nudibranch taxonomist from the California Academy of Sciences, take a deep dive into the world of sea slugs. They talk discovery and fieldwork tricks, bizarre defenses like stolen stinging cells, dazzling camouflage and warning colors, reproductive oddities and curious open‑ocean lifestyles.
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Look For Prey And Seasonality When Searching
- To find nudibranchs in the field, look for their prey and likely substrates: scuba, snorkel, tidepooling, and docking are effective methods.
- Seasonality matters; tropical sites have higher diversity and temperate zones show pulses when animals reproduce.
Train Your Eye And Use A Loupe For Small Nudibranchs
- Develop spotting skills like an Easter egg hunt: use magnification (loupe) and dive early when juveniles and small species are visible.
- Learn prey associations and microhabitats to improve detection instead of relying on raw eyesight alone.
Nudibranchs Are Ancient And Start Life With A Shell
- DNA analyses show nudibranch lineages extend at least ~250 million years and larvae have shells, indicating shell loss happened after early shelled ancestry.
- Larvae crawl out of their tiny coiled shell during metamorphosis when they detect adult food cues.