Puako, Hawaii

I spent about 8 months working on a fisheries project at Puako in 1980 and 1981. Although most of our dives were spent counting boring fish, I did get to do some nudibranch watching on the side. Along most of this zone, there was a short dropoff from the edge of the fringing reef down to about 8 to 10 meters depth. This wall undulated back and forth along a couple of miles of coast and was pocketed along the way with ledges, overhangs, and small caves. From the base of this short wall the coral-covered bottom gradually sloped off, becoming steeper at maybe 15 to 20 meters. I did most of my slug hunting in the ledges and caves along the first drop, both by day and night. A good variety of species could be found, the most common being Ardeadoris tomsmithi followed by Halgerda terramtuentis. Those two were on top both day and night, but the other species varied depending on when you looked.

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