Nudibranch diving Cape Town

We are absolutely mad about SCUBA diving in Cape Town, and we are especially mad about hunting Nudibranch. Cape Town’s cold waters may not have the many colourful fish found on coral reefs. Instead, we have incredibly colourful reefs, which are perfect for a macro fanatic.

So, what is a Nudibranch? Hmmm, short and sweet, it’s a slug – a sea slug. But not your common dull garden-variety slug – no, nudibranchs are usually rather colourful and attractive, showing incredible variety. Nudibranch itself means “naked gill”, because the gills are on the outside of the body. And while we all commonly refer to all sea slugs as Nudibranchs, technically they are only one type of sea slug – there are many others!

Nudibranch

In Cape Town we have around 75 known species, according to our naturalist and Nudibranch diving fundis. For most of them we have nice common names, but we also have the scientific names for those who like to tick off species lists. Guido Zsilavecz has written a book “Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula of False Bay”. It shows most of the known Nudibranch species. While in Georgina Jones’ book “A Field Guide to the Marine Animals of the Cape Peninsula” the more common ones are shown. This in-between all the other animals found in our 8-18 degree waters.

Nudibranch diving Cape town

We, at DiveInn Cape Town, specialize in looking for nudibranchs – we like them, we’re good at finding them, making us the perfect guides for the keen Nudibranch hunter and photographer. Dives can be done from shore (we have many easy-entry sites – quite unusual actually). Boat used for deeper dives or further offshore, with depths ranging from 5 to 30 metres of depth. Of course, Nudibranch diving Cape Town are not all we will see, and we’ll encounter much other macro life on each dive, apart from simply enjoying the colour of our reefs and moody kelp beds alike.