If you don’t yet know what a nudibranch is, your life is about to be changed forever! Often colloquially referred to as sea slugs, this slimy nickname does no justice to the majesty of the order`nudibranchia’. BC is home to many tens of species of brightly coloured and fantastically shaped nudibranchs, and they have some amazing super-powers to boot! In this talk, Sara will give an introduction to the fascinating world of nudibranchs from the perspective of an avid cold water snorkeller. She will cover identification of many of the species you can find in the intertidal, provide tips on how and where to find them and share some fun facts along the way.

By trade, Sara Ellison is an astrophysicist. After earning her PhD from the University of Cambridge, she spent 3 years doing astronomy research at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, before moving to the University of Victoria to take up a Canada Research Chair in 2003. Having snorkelled all around the world, BC is her favourite place to go for a swim! In 2023, Sara published “Snorkelling Adventures Around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands: The Ultimate Guide”, which was a #1 bestseller on both Amazon and the BC booklist. Sara is a part-time resident of Saturna Island.