Diario de jeffgoddard

A recent inquiry from @joepaquin about Scott Creek, CA as a site for nudibranchs prompted me to write a summary of results of a long-term study of nudibranchs at Scott Creek that I started as an undergrad at UC Santa Cruz. At first glance my Scott Creek study site may not appear to be particularly promising for nudibranchs, especially compared to larger and better known sites in the region, like Carmel Point, Pillar Point, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, or Duxbury Reef. But over the years and decades, the shallow pools with their low, overhanging ledges revealed a rich biodiversity, drawing me back time and again. The full site is best observed on tides falling below -1’ when the swell isn’t too large, but many productive pools are exposed on any minus tide. The only caveat is that one needs to move along on one’s knees a lot here to see what’s under all those low ledges, an activity I'm less inclined to do these days, after my 55 years of searching for nudibranchs. On the other hand, the walk to the site, though not too long, is just long enough to ensure that sometimes you’ll be the only person present, a real gift on a calm foggy morning between Pacific tides so close to the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area.

So, for your interest, @joepaquin, and other aficionados of intertidal nudibranchs in central CA, including @mcduck, @anudibranchmom, @chilipossum, @passiflora4, @chloe_and_trevor, @kestrel, @rebeccafay, @nudibitch, @kueda, @dpom, @craigahoover, @lemurdillo, @lorri-gong, @lutea11, here is where you can find a summary of my study of nudibranchs at Scott Creek:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19jBRnb5VoVwu84GckDB1D5cI3W_wBaQJ/view?usp=sharing

Thanks to @anudibranchmom for the suggestion on how to make my pdf publicly available

The boulder field at Naples Point, on Santa Barbara's Gaviota coast, was one of my family's go-to sites for nudibranchs while we lived at Midland School in the Santa Ynez Valley. My twin sons Ziggy and Will began accompanying me in my search for nudibranchs there in 2008, quickly developed laser-sharp search images, and were soon contributing significantly to the results. Together, we wrote and published the scientific paper linked below, the first of four planned papers, one each on the heterobranch sea slugs from a different site in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. Will and Ziggy are fine writers and editors.

In our paper we first review the literature on the heterobranchs known from Santa Barbara County. We then describe our study site at Naples Point in detail and present our results on the species composition, abundance, and seasonal and interannual variation in abundance. During this study we recorded 12,193 individuals from 55 species, 48 of which were nudibranchs. These are listed in Table 1, on pp. 284-85. Since 2019 and through 9 June 2023, I have made seven more trips to Naples Point and recording a total of 223 additional individuals and no additional species.

Heterobranchs are often sparse and difficult to find at Naples Point, usually requiring a lot of rock rolling (and righting!), and many of the species are small. But sometimes they were abundant, large, and couldn't be missed, as when Black sea hares and Gould's bubble snails just exploded in abundance during the 2014-2016 marine heat wave.

Here's our paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17RTXDuGLe13k_HNXjwsk_uKij2eQcvvL/view?usp=drive_link

@anudibranchmom, @chilipossum, @passiflora4, @chloe_and_trevor, @kestrel, @rebeccafay, @nudibitch, @kueda, @dpom, @craigahoover, @lemurdillo, @lorri-gong, @lutea11, @alanarama3, @alex_bairstow, @imlichentoday, @skatingflamingo

Below is a link to the second of four papers planned with my twin sons on nudibranchs and allies from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, this one on Tar Pits Reef in Carpinteria.

Tar Pits Reef is a small, but rich intertidal site for nudibranchs, especially in the late spring, at the height of the blooms of epiphytic hydroids but before inundation of parts of the reef by sand in late summer. During our 40 total trips to this site we recorded 3590 total individuals in 52 species of heterobranch sea slugs, 45 of which were nudibranchs. The reef is also the type locality for Pacifia goddardi, which was described and named after me in 2010 by Terry Gosliner and which has since been found subtidally at Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, Malibu, and Palos Verdes. Craig Hoover and I published a paper of the distribution, seasonality and diet of P. goddardi (as Flabellina goddardi) in 2016, and I have also provided below a link to that paper.

Since 2020 we have sampled Tar Pits Reef for sea slugs twice more, once in April 2021, when Ziggy added Eubranchus sp. 1 of Behrens et al. (2022) to our list for the reef (and extended its range from La Jolla: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/75602522), and most recently on a pre-dawn trip with @alanarama3 on the 4th of this month.

Link to Goddard and sons (2021): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wHagF8rf_h92jzGzUfpb3VfWyDvWKIXm/view?usp=sharing

Link to Goddard and Hoover (2016): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B6pJK4o_FladZ93CcuoQcqCVt7NNQGH5/view?usp=sharing

@anudibranchmom, @chilipossum, @passiflora4, @chloe_and_trevor, @kestrel, @rebeccafay, @nudibitch, @kueda, @dpom, @craigahoover, @lemurdillo, @lorri-gong, @lutea11, @alanarama3, @alex_bairstow, @imlichentoday, @skatingflamingo

Below is a link to the third of four papers planned with my twin sons on nudibranchs and allies from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, this one Hazard Canyon Reef, an intertidal site in Montana de Oro State Park well known to users of iNaturalist in the region. This paper follows the same general format as the previous two papers, but includes a table (on p. 546) listing species found by other observers (including @marisa_a, @arheyman, @noiselessowl, @anudibranchmom, @kueda, @dpom, and @craigahoover) at Hazard Canyon and in the subtidal nearby that we did not observe during our study.

In our 50 total trips to Hazard Canyon we recorded 5919 individuals of heterobranch sea slugs from 63 species, 57 of which were nudibranchs. In one additional trip, on 5 June 2023, I found another 60 individuals from 16 species, none of which were new additions to our overall list.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19HlNrqrffd-xr-oCz2CqT3rEplMGKgln/view?usp=drive_link

@anudibranchmom, @chilipossum, @passiflora4, @chloe_and_trevor, @kestrel, @rebeccafay, @nudibitch, @kueda, @dpom, @craigahoover, @lemurdillo, @lorri-gong, @lutea11, @alanarama3, @alex_bairstow, @imlichentoday, @skatingflamingo, @marisa_a, @arheyman, @noiselessowl