It seemed that there could not possibly be many more nature surprises left for me on the San Blas reefs, especially after a seahorse sighting. Fortunately, I was wrong. Exploring some inner reefs closer to the mainland that were now clear during dry season, several new and exciting discoveries were awaiting.
On one particular shallow reef behind our anchorage, here were several firsts:
Seaweed blenny
Seaweed blenny ~ gold variation
Golden coral shrimp
Juvenile hamlet
Juvenile foureye butterflyfish
Swimming back to the dinghy from this reef one day I came across a very cool find ~ a swimming leopard flatworm!
At first I thought it was a Caribbean spanish dancer nudibranch based on the description of its undulating swimming style, but my friend Sharon led me in the right direction to identify this bright purple and orange-spotted flatworm.
It floated up and down the water column, at times resembling a flowing ribbon and at other times a Star Wars "Ti fighter". Wow!
Leopard flatworm