September 1, 2005 (Vol. 25, No. 15)
URL:
http://www.seaslugforum.net
Rating:
Strong Points: Well organized, descriptive, incredible photos
Weak Points: None
Summary:
Take an otherwise obscure and seemingly off-the-beaten-path collection of organisms collectively described as sea slugs (nudibranchs, bubble-shells, sea hares, and related organisms), link them to a very well written set of descriptions of their biology and paste that on top of photographs that are almost works of art and you have The Sea Slug Forum, my candidate for one of the least likely sites you’d visit unless you read On the Web. This tidy little gem is everything that a biology site should be. The General Topics section alone is one of the most impressive sets of biological descriptions I’ve seen in the 8+ years I’ve been doing this column. While that is impressive, what will make you gasp, in some cases, is the incredible quality of some of the photographs of the organisms in this collection. Marvel at surreal photographs of species, such as Bullina oblonga, Chelidonura hirundinina, and Gastropteron pacificum, among dozens of others, and you’ll come away convinced that biological obscurity does not preclude beauty. An incredible site.
