Also known as Nudis Gone Wild! I'm not talking about UC Santa Cruz, home of the Banana Slugs, this is Santa Cruz Island in the Northern Channel Islands, home of the nudi "slugs".
I was lucky enough to catch a pair of Spanish Shawl nudibranchs making baby nudibranchs. I've often seen them together but never through the whole process - and at this magnification!
First, we have the approach.
The top Spanish Shawl (whom I will call a "him", even though I know that they are hermaphrodites) makes his approach. He introduces himself to "her". He offers to buy her a drink. Perhaps he asks if she would like to come back to his rock to see his collection of kelp leaves. Meanwhile, he friend, hereafter referred to as "the wingman", waits at the bottom of the image, just in case he has to deflect the fat best friend of the female. Luckily for our Romeo, Juliet's BNFF (Best Nudi Friend Forever) has apparently headed to the kelp bar for a little grazing and is away from the action. You can see that his Juliet is tossing her luxurious mane of spikes as she pretends that she is "soooo drunk" from eating fermented algae.
And then comes The Nuzzle.
Juliet shows the universal sign of interest by gently laying an antler upon Romeo's reproductive organs. You can see that she, too, is aroused and ready to make the "four antlered beast with many quills".
And finally - Doing the dirty deed!
Within minutes of first meeting, Romeo and Juliet are turned head to tail and have started a little DP, nudi style. You'll notice that each of them has an penis and a female duct (I'm using the scientific names here, instead of just calling them an "inny" and an "outty"). Mating last only a few minutes and the two part ways, without even the exchange of a telephone number.
And finally, one last gratuitious hardcore centerfold shot.
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