Don’t you love the way huge beauty can be placed into the tiniest of packages!
Golden Lace - tiny signet jewels adorning hidden spaces in the depths surrounding Hawaiian islands
This charmer is a Golden Lace Nudibranch (pronounced New-D-Brank), one of many colorful aquatic species often simply called “nudis.” Incredible, isn’t she - or he! Actually, you can take your pick of gender because nudis are hermaphroditic, having both sets of “equipment” in each specimen.
This one was just about an inch long, if that. Notice the delicate, even whimsical gold embroidery running through her translucent body — amazing. It looks like an artist gently produced this with the finest strokes of gold paint, or the smallest twists of gold thread. And, of course, that’s an apparent reason for its name.
This artful rendition of a miniature crown serves as the oxygen converter for the Golden Lace.
And check out the crown-like, or tree-like apparatus on topside. These are the functional gills of this particular nudi. Surprising and beautiful.
Interestingly, nudis are - in vulgar terms - sea slugs! They are of the mollusk genre - like a shellfish that never grows up to inherit its shell. Amazing to see so much “finery” in something with such a humble family line.
Rhinophores look a bit like the fuzzy “antlers” or “antennae” on moths. These humble probes are their navigation instruments for the depths.
Getting a little closer, you can see the “antennae” on the “front” side. These are technically called rhinophores. They resemble the fuzzy antennae of moths. Nudis don’t really “see” their surroundings. Rather, they sense them through the rhino-organs… that’s how they experience their aquatic environment.
These creatures were just discovered in the early 1980s… and they occur only around the Hawaiian islands. I took the photo off the coast of Kauai. Vicki and I were at about 40-50 feet down under, enjoying a “wall-dive” dubbed “The Crack.” It’s called The Crack because, geologically, it is the torn part of the ocean floor that exists in the 18 mile expanse between two islands (Kauai and Niihau). Apparently they were once the single island of Kauai, but during some distant volcanic activity they separated into two islands.
A couple genuinely ancient, four-flippered, friends wishing us well as we dove near The Crack. These two are certainly over 100 years old each… they’ve navigated The Crack for decades.
The gaping sub-surface structure that remains, covered with corals and teeming with sea life, looks like a jagged wall into the unseeable and non-survivable depths. This wall-dive, The Crack, is amazing. And there were other “little nudis” around on that dive… full of wonder, majesty, and even a bit of cartoonish style.
Some of our two-legged friends navigating the exit during our dives off the Kauai shoreline
I think that’s the way God made us. We eventually return to humble ashes and dust. In the meantime, God has given us whimsical and astonishing creations to enjoy. Even these tiniest reflections of his majesty can help us look around, possibly even inside, and exclaim “Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14)
Grateful for creation!
If you’re interested, here’s a link to a brief article about Golden Lace Nudis from another underwater enthusiast:
https://therightblue.blogspot.com/2008/09/hawaiis-gold-lace-nudibranch.html
And Wikipedia has a nice write up on the Nudibranch species as a whole:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch