Why this beautiful rainbow sea slug is such an incredible scientific find
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The slug may be vibrant and rare, but experts believe we'll be seeing more of them as they adapt to warming waters thanks to climate change.
The rainbow sea slug is beautiful, vibrant, and an extremely rare find.
There have only been three previous sightings of the creature in the UK.
Experts believe the slugs are adapting to climate change by moving into warmer waters.
An extremely rare creature was discovered in rock pools off the coast of south Cornwall, South West England — and scientists believe there will be more sightings in the future.
The rainbow sea slug — scientific name Babakina anadoni — was found by rock pool enthusiast Vicky Barlow last weekend.
Barlow is a volunteer with the Rock Pool Project, leading "safari" tours of the rock pools on the England coast. She was doing a final survey of the beach when she had a hunch that something interesting was hiding under a particular rock.
Discovering the sea slug so far north is probably a testament to climate change. Warming oceans are shifting where these small creatures can survive.
That's because of all the heat-trapping carbon dioxide that humans have pumped into the atmosphere. It's causing global temperatures to rise, and the ocean absorbs much of that excess heat.
The rapidly changing environment is forcing creatures such as the rainbow slug to adapt and find new habitats.
"It's an amazing find and I expect we will see more of them," Ben Holt of the Rock Pool Project told BBC News.
Barlow wrote in a blog that like most nudibranchs — the scientific group of sea slugs this colorful guy belongs to — this specimen "had quite the personality" and puffed its tentacle-like "cerata" to "make itself appear bigger if one of our hands got too close."
Barlow uploaded a record of her finding to the National Biodiversity Network, which she said is the first record of its kind for this colorful creature. Let's hope it's not the last.
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