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UK Nudibranch Atlas began after a local ranger introduced me to nudibranch spotting and spoke about taking school groups exploring the shoreline. I wanted to create a simple, accessible resource that would help people discover the incredible diversity of UK nudibranchs, sea slugs and related marine gastropods.
Rather than replacing the fantastic work of specialist organisations (such as the NBN Atlas, WoRMS and the wider recording community), this site is intended to be a friendly starting point for anyone wanting to learn more.
Distribution information is derived from publicly available biodiversity data, including records accessed via the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas. The atlas also calculates a broad status estimate based on record density, helping indicate how frequently a species is recorded within UK waters. These statuses are intended as a general guide only and should not be interpreted as conservation designations. Taxonomic names and synonym information may also be checked against the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
Species photographs are sourced from Wikimedia Commons, iNaturalist and other contributors. Copyright remains with the original photographers and rights holders. Images are used in accordance with their respective licences and attribution requirements.
All credited images are used under their respective Creative Commons licences.
The UK Nudibranch Atlas currently includes nudibranchs, bubble snails, sacoglossans, sea hares, pulmonate sea slugs, side-gilled slugs and sea angels, covering the vast majority of marine heterobranch sea slugs recorded from UK waters.
Nudibranchs are shell-less marine gastropods, often brightly coloured and among the most familiar sea slugs.
Sea Hares are generally larger sea slugs with ear-like rhinophores and the ability to release defensive ink.
Sacoglossans are specialised algae-feeding sea slugs, some of which can temporarily retain chloroplasts from their food in a process known as kleptoplasty.
Pulmonate Sea Slugs are air-breathing marine or shoreline slugs, typically found in the upper shore, splash zone and rocky crevices.
Bubble Snails usually retain a reduced internal or external shell and often have a smoother, more rounded appearance than nudibranchs.
Side-gilled Slugs are characterised by a single gill located on the right side of the body rather than on the back.
Sea Angels are free-swimming pelagic sea slugs that spend their lives drifting in the open ocean and use wing-like lobes to swim.
UK Nudibranch Atlas does not require user accounts and does not collect information intended to identify individual visitors during normal browsing.
With your consent the Atlas uses Google Analytics to help understand how the site is used, including which pages and species are viewed and how visitors find the website. This information is used to improve the Atlas and is not used for advertising. Google Analytics is not loaded unless you choose to allow analytics.
Browser storage may be used for site features such as species voting and to remember your privacy preferences. You can change your analytics choice at any time using the Privacy Settings link at the bottom of the site.
If you choose to submit feedback, any name or email address you provide will be used only to help respond to your report or query and will not be shared with third parties.
Distribution maps are intended as broad visual guides only and should not be interpreted as complete or definitive species distributions. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of species information and taxonomy, errors may occur and users are encouraged to report any issues using the correction form linked on each species.