One for Cali.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This looks like the one that got me, but the spines were white.

Interesting. That image depicts Hermissenda crassicornis, which is very variable in colour, but this species is a Pacific Coast one. Don't think it's found in Puerto Rico. However, it's one of several Facelinid nudibranchs, and this Family (Facelinidae) has a wide distribution. If the species in question sequestered any cnidoblasts from certain hydroids or fire corals, that would explain why it did for you. Even worse, if it fed upon certain venomous Zoanthids, being stung by the nudibranch afterwards would be a serious medical emergency, because the cnidoblasts of some Zoanthids deliver a toxin called palytoxin, which is lethal to humans in very small doses.

My right leg was numb when I got out of the water. By the time I got to the hospital (you could see it from the beach) I was numb up to the navel. The docs immediately made plans to breath for me if needed, and then they mustered ever A+ blood type on the base.

[Calilasseia]

Sounds like palytoxin. Which, after the initial pain, starts shutting down core neurochemistry in the central nervous system if you receive a large enough dose. In which case, chances are, the nudibranch fed upon some venomous Zoanthids before it decided to show you what it was capable of.

Interestingly enough, palytoxin is one of the most complicated non-peptide molecules in existence. It took a team of Japanese chemists three years to work out the structure, and another, different group of Japanese chemists (this time based at Harvard) another three years to work out a total synthesis procedure for it. When you see the molecular structure of this behemoth, you'll see why.

[pErvinalia]

This looks like the one that got me, but the spines were white.

Interesting. That image depicts Hermissenda crassicornis, which is very variable in colour, but this species is a Pacific Coast one. Don't think it's found in Puerto Rico. However, it's one of several Facelinid nudibranchs, and this Family (Facelinidae) has a wide distribution. If the species in question sequestered any cnidoblasts from certain hydroids or fire corals, that would explain why it did for you. Even worse, if it fed upon certain venomous Zoanthids, being stung by the nudibranch afterwards would be a serious medical emergency, because the cnidoblasts of some Zoanthids deliver a toxin called palytoxin, which is lethal to humans in very small doses.

My right leg was numb when I got out of the water. By the time I got to the hospital (you could see it from the beach) I was numb up to the navel. The docs immediately made plans to breath for me if needed, and then they mustered ever A+ blood type on the base.

You didn't step on a stone fish, did you? Or maybe got stung by a cone fish?

[Calilasseia]

No. Stonefish are restricted to the Indo-Pacific, mostly around Australia and the Philippines. Synanceja horrida has its western limit in India, and Synanceja verrucosa has its western limit in the Red Sea.

As for cone shells, they leave behind them a barbed penetrator indicative of their activities. These molluscs lie in wait for prey, inject a barbed tooth-like structure detached from the radula for the purpose, which is coated in the cone shell organism's venom. Not all cone shells are dangerous to humans, but several are: Conus geographus, the Geography Cone, has a venom that is capable of resulting in human fatalities.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It nearly killed me. I didn't ask for ID.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[pErvinalia]

[pErvinalia]

[Blind groper]

Once you got that little beastie to fart, why not get out your filleting knife?

I am told that the residual tetraodotoxin in its flesh leaves pleasant tingling in your mouth, if you do not eat too much. I will give you the honour of the first taste.

[Calilasseia]

That looks like Takifugu xanthopterus, the Yellowfin Puffer Fish. An adult can be 50 cm in length,

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That looks like Takifugu xanthopterus, the Yellowfin Puffer Fish. An adult can be 50 cm in length,

What do they taste like, seriously.

[Blind groper]

Depends on which part of the body you eat. I have never tried, and I would be most reluctant to try even if I had a fully qualified chef preparing it. However, I have read that the part of the fish that is eaten is sweet and delicious. It also confers the equivalent of a minor drug high, which explains its popularity.

Of course, if you eat the wrong part of the fish, you get a very major drug high. It is just very brief!

[mistermack]

That one that feeds on the tentacles of the Portugese Man-O-War, how the hell did it evolve that? The only thing I can think of, is that it evolved alongside the Man-O-War, so that as the stings got more powerful, so did it's coping mechanism.

I just had a great idea.
Put those nudey blasts in an aerosol, for use as an anti-mugger deterrent. Bit stronger than pepper spray.

[Calilasseia]

The stages I can think of in the case of Glaucus atlanticus would be something like the following ...

[1] Nudibranch ancestor has free swimming pelagic larvae, and so can be distributed over a wide area.

[2] One ancestral branch develops a taste for sea anemones and related cnidarians (the trophic migration and specialisation stage).

[3] This ancestral branch acquires the ability to prevent the cnidoblasts from triggering whilst it is feeding.

[4] Having acquired this ability for external protection whilst feeding, it then deploys the same capability in the gut lining,

[5] A sub branch then acquires the ability to transfer undigested and untriggered cnidoblasts to the cerata from the gut.

[6] This sub branch then undergoes adaptive radiation and speciation.

[7] One speciation radiant becomes a pelagic species as an adult, associating with pelagic siphonophores, and over numerous generations, its pre-acquired capabilities with cnidoblasts are tuned specifically to those of the siphonophores.

[8] This speciation radiant becomes Glaucus atlanticus.