Actually, make that "And the winners are..."After struggling at first with my obtuse hint on the #10 nudibranch egg ribbon (Rhymes with orange? Sea Lemon?),
Wicked impressive, Jim!
As grand prize winner, you will be receiving a copy of Reef, and a CORAL Reef Leadership Network shirt (as modeled by the always dapper Kevin Zelnio)! The shirt is perfect lounging wear while reading Reef, if I do say so myself. Send me an email with your shirt size, Jim, and also where you want your prizes shipped.
But other valiant achievements must also be recognized.
Eric Heupel was the first to puzzle through the confusing mish-mash of Sea Lemon nudibranchs in his field guides. As he so well phrased it, WHICH Sea Lemon!? Eric offered Archidoris psuedoargus, Archidoris monteryensis, Anisodoris lentiginosa, Peltodoris nobilis (=Anisodoris nobilis), Archidoris odhneri, Geitodoris heathi, or even Aldisa cooperi in it's yellow form? He even mentioned the Lemon Flavored Tapioca Pearl Nudibranch. Wow!
I had to go back to the original image used to make certain that the eggs were indeed from the Monterey Sea Lemon, and sure enough they were. As someone who gets to see a lot of Sea Lemon nudibranchs here in Northern California tidepools, I can certainly attest to the phenotypic plasticity of the species. Some are pure yellow while others have assorted splotches here and there. You really need a good field guide to know what species you are dealing with.
Christie is also receiving recognition for her several stabs at the nudibranch eggs. But where she's receiving winning status is her correct observation (of a nerd) for the bonus mystery eggs. She answered correctly that these were Olive Ridley sea turtle eggs (Lepidochelys olivace). Eric was spot-on in mentioning that scale is very important in correctly identifying something like this, and I was sneaky in modifying the original image to remove anything that gave away scale too easily.
And props also go out to Allie of the great blog Oh For The Love Of Science who submitted her guess of Loggerhead sea turtle for the bonus mystery eggs.
Nonetheless, impressive identification skills all around and thanks for playing!
So, for Eric, Christie, and Allie: please also email me your t-shirt sizes and mailing addresses and I'll have some bonus prizes headed your way ASAP!
4 comments:
YEAH Baby! Surprise prize for me! :)
And to Jim, kudos on the eggy IDs. I would've never gotten all of those other ones... well, I got the booby. That was kinda easy. But the other ones were tough. You're an egg guru!
...you know, I was tempted to guess either Kemp's or Olive ridley....I need to spend more time with sea turtle eggs!
YAYYY for surprises!
WOOT! Thanks Rick. I'm so psyched - my marine invertebrate biology professor would be proud. Thanks too to Christie and Eric - I couldn't have gotten that sea lemon without your help (I'll let you flip through my new book someday)
And in closing, I think this clip is appropriate here.
Way to go Jim!! It's an awesome book. So good I bought a separate copy for my son. One at home and one at work. Just beware the one at work gets a lot of wear and tear from others who come in the office.
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