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MARCO MAZZA

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Macro

All Photos taken off Coal Oil Point (Devereux)

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A Spanish Shawl Nudibranch posing perfectly with a small Three Lined Aeolid Nudibranch by its side. The larger Spanish Shawl Nudibranch is about an inch long

A small California Aglaja, only about an inch long. Although it looks like it, this sea slug is not actually a Nudibranch.

A Snubnose sculpin. The entire fish was about 1.5 inches in length, the eye being only a few millimeters across.

A Santa Barbara Janolus Nudibranch, also known as the Cockscomb Nudibranch. These can be difficult to find at times, and are fun to photograph because of their unique colors. This specimen was about 3/4 of an inch long.

A Yellowfin Fringehead. The entire fish is only a few inches in length, but what you see is only its head peering out of a hole.

One of my favorite encounters ever out at Coal Oil Point; two California Blue Dorid Nudibranchs. This species went extinct from California waters in the mid-1980's but started to reappear in the early 2000's. This was one of the only sightings of this species off Coal Oil Point.

A California Coffee Bean Trivia Cowrie. One of the few species of Cowrie we have here in California. The mantle of the snail inside wraps up and around its shell to keep it nice and shiny/void of external growth. This one was about 1/2" long.

Close up of a Spanish Shawl Nudibranch. The entire Nudibranch was about 1.5 inches long.

Rockpool Blennys can often be found peering out of small holes in the reef off Coal Oil Point. They rarely exceed a three inches in length.

Two Three-Lined Aeolid Nudibranchs, each about the size of a pinhead.

A baseball-sized Two-Spot Octopus tucked into the reef off Coal Oil Point

A Large Hilton's Aeolid Nudibranch found in about 25ft of water off Coal Oil Point. This species of nudibranch is known to eat smaller nudibranchs, including its own species. This one was a little over two inches long.

A colorful McDonald's Dorid Nudibranch, just under an inch in length.

A Stearn's Aeolid Nudibranch found in about 20ft of water off Coal Oil Point. This species rarely exceeds an inch in length.

A California Coffee Bean Trivia Cowrie. One of the few species of Cowrie we have here in California. The mantle of the snail inside wraps up and around its shell to keep it nice and shiny/void of external growth. This one was about 1/2" long.

A Stearn's Aeolid Nudibranch. This species rarely exceeds an inch in length.

A Sea Clown Triopha Nudibranch, about 1 inch in length.

Unknown Shrimp-looking isopod thing on a strand of macrocystis. This specimen was about the size of a pinhead

A Salt-and-Pepper dorid found in about 20ft of water off Coal Oil Point. This species is usually found at about 1/2 inches in length, but stands out due to its bright white coloration.

The San Diego Dorid can be found throughout California waters. This one, off Coal Oil Point, was about two inches long.

A McDonald's Dorid Nudibranch, just under an inch in length.

Portrait of a Rockpool Blenny.

A colorful McDonald's Dorid Nudibranch, about 1/2 of an inch in length.

Amazing textures on the skin of this small octopus found hunting the reef during the daytime in about 15ft of water.

Spines and tentacles of a purple sea urchin create quite the landscape for this little isopod to navigate. The isopod is only fractions of a millimeter in length.

© 2021 by Marco Mazza Photography