Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine! During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili.

Nudibranchs are essentially sea slugs which are gastropod molluscs. The word nudibranch comes from a Latin and Greek word meaning naked gills, as the gills of a nudibranch are located on their back, which is how they breathe. Worldwide there are over 3000 known species of nudibranchs with around 400 of those species calling Victoria home. Around Phillip Island and San Remo waters there are roughly 120 species.

These intriguing creatures are benthic dwellers - which means they live on the ocean floor - and range in size from a few millimetres to up to 30 centimetres in length (which is as long as a standard ruler).

These pretty sea slugs can be very brightly coloured and come in all different shapes, colours, sizes and patterns. Some species of nudibranchs are found only in Victorian waters which provide the perfect habitat for them, with abundant seagrass beds, rocky sea floor areas and intertidal zones. These little ocean gems are great environmental indicators as they are particularly sensitive to environment changes, so scientist can observe the nudibranchs population if they sense environment issues.

One of the reasons why the nudibranch has adapted to be so brightly coloured is to deter predators to show that they are poisonous and not tasty. Not all species are poisonous, but some most certainly are, and it is not recommended to touch any nudibranchs if you ever see one.

The diet of these incredible sea slugs usually includes small marine critters including anemones and sponges.

Despite nudibranchs being sea slugs, not all sea slug species are nudibranchs.