Sea Angel (Clione limacina) Bloom in December

Observation: I went out to Nahku Bay [~3 miles NNW of Skagway, AK] at 12:45pm to collect samples for another project and noticed tons of sea angels in the water. It was mostly cloudy and windy with some recent rainfall. Water temperature was 3°C (37°F). There was so many it was hard to avoid getting them in my plankton net! I've never seen these before in this area.

LEO says: The UAF Sea Grant Alaska - Marine Advisory Program (MAP) agent in Ketchikan has been notified of the observation.

Resource:

Wikipedia – Clione limacina, known as the naked sea butterfly, sea angel, and common clione, is a sea angel (pelagic sea slug) found from the surface to greater than 500 m (1,600 ft) depth. It lives in the Arctic Ocean and cold regions of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans.