Video Contest – December 2021

Description: Nestled at the center of Gingoog Bay, at the heart of the quiet city of Gingoog, here in Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao, Philippines, lies a pier unlike any other. At the surface, the pier is the typical one you see here in the Philippines; made of concrete, stands on concrete stilts, and is currently being used as an outdoor recreational area where locals enjoy the cool sea breeze, while a couple of fishermen cast some lines hoping to catch some fish for the day. As one stands at the edge of the pier looking down below, one can see only water, and probably some reflections of faces at the surface when the sea is calm, or the usual fish jumping out of the water. But look deeper, take a plunge and one can see that beneath the waves, the pier is bustling with tiny but colorful life. Sea slugs, with their most popular members the nudibranchs, are colorful marine gastropods that have evolved the loss of a shell for protection, and instead employing chemical warfare in their arsenal. They are tiny and colorful and are a favorite subject of underwater photographers the world over. Nudibranchs and sea slugs have made this pier their harbor, their paradise. In a very small area, one can see more than 30 species underneath the pier doing what sea slugs do, eating, mating, and laying eggs, making the pier an important sort of pocket environment for these critters.