Speaking of slugs

Sea slugs such as Pteraeolidia ianthina from the southeast coast of Australia are a far cry from their dowdy, garden-lurking cousins. The flashy marine mollusks caught the eye of American novelist John Steinbeck, who in CanneryRow described them as "slid[ing] gracefully over the rocks, their skirts waving like the dresses of Spanish dancers." Modern fans of the creatures can share information at the newly revamped Sea Slug Forum, hosted by malacologist Bill Rudman of the Australian Museam in Sydney. The site includes more than 30,000 images, and the fact sheets offer tidbits of the biology of about 1400 species from around the world. For example, Pteraeolidia ianthina hosts colonies of photosynthetic algae, which can share their food with the slug and account for its brownish color. In the forum section, an audience including scientists and scuba divers talk taxonomy and ecology, mull photos of hard-to-identify specimens, and swap sea slug lore.

Exceprt from SCIENCE Vol 306 29 October 2004