May 2026 site updates — descriptions rebuilt from primary literature, video embeds, and more

In May we rebuilt species descriptions from the primary literature — and the work is ongoing, so please let us know if you spot anything that reads wrong. We also added support for embedding YouTube and X videos on species pages.

Descriptions, rebuilt from primary literature

Recently we started drafting species descriptions with AI assistance. That brought a new problem: anatomical detail from the original descriptions (radular formulae, jaw plates, penial spines…) and mixed-language phrasing like "rhinophore (触角)" were being carried straight into the body, making pages hard to read for general visitors.

In May we rebuilt roughly 1,000 species across both Japanese and English along a consistent template:

• Description — external morphology, size, and colour pattern in plain language
• Distribution — type locality and current range, with explicit tense
• Etymology — Latin or Greek meaning of the specific epithet, only what the original description states
• Remarks — diet, family/genus context, distinguishing features against similar species

We kept only what a sea slug field guide actually needs. Detailed radular formulae, jaw plates, penial spines, reproductive-system minutiae, and superseded genus-combination narratives were removed from the body — that level of detail belongs in the linked References. Mixed-language jargon was removed; instead, glossary terms now auto-link from anywhere in the body to a dedicated glossary page. We are also continuing to tune the /species-review AI skill so that future drafts stay focused on what readers need.

On the English side, we generated and expanded English text for many species that previously had only Japanese, grounded in the original descriptions, WoRMS records, and modern systematic reviews. This should substantially improve readability for international researchers and divers, and should also lift English-language search traffic on en.seaslug.world.

Original descriptions, now linked

Alongside the rewrite, we registered original descriptions and key revisions as References for each species. The site now has 725 papers registered as references in total. Major papers added in May:

• Baba (1949) Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay — Kikutarō Baba's monograph of Japanese opisthobranchs, the original description for many Japanese species and the source of many Japanese vernacular names
• Bergh (1880–1905) — the long sequence of nudibranch and cephalaspid descriptions in Verhandlungen der zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft and related journals
• A. d'Orbigny (1835) Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale — original description for Cavolinia uncinata (basionym Hyalaea uncinata) and other pteropods
• A. Adams (1850) Thesaurus Conchyliorum: Bullidae — original descriptions for many cephalaspideans including Cylichna biplicata
• Rampal (2017) Euthecosomata Taxonomic review — modern systematic review of the shelled pteropods

References appear at the bottom of each species page with the name as it appears in each paper preserved. The genus combination history (for example Hyalaea uncinata → Cavolinia uncinata) becomes readable simply by sorting the References by year, instead of being narrated in the body text.

Semi-automating the "paper → description" loop

To make the rewrite tractable, we built an AI skill called /species-review for site maintenance. Given a product ID it fetches the existing record, prefers reading a local PDF of the original description (falling back to WoRMS / Wikipedia), generates a Japanese and English draft along the standard template, cross-checks the binomial, authority, and type locality against WoRMS, and registers any missing original description as a new reference.

A human reviewer approves and applies the result, but the heavy lifting of reading the paper once and reusing the result across related species is now reproducible.

Video and social media embeds

A new section appears at the bottom of species pages (just below References) for a single embedded video or social post.

• Editors paste a YouTube or X URL into the admin form and the provider / ID are auto-detected
• For YouTube, a VideoObject JSON-LD is emitted so Google can show a video thumbnail in search results
• A 16:9 lazy-loaded iframe keeps the page fast
• The credit appears as "YouTube: <author>" linking back to the source

The first example is on the Kaloplocamus albopunctatus (エダウミウシ) page, which now shows a short clip of the species' bioluminescent flash — something no still photograph can convey. We are looking for sea slug videos — if you have YouTube or X clips that capture movement, bioluminescence, swimming, or feeding behaviour that still photos cannot convey, please let us know.

Things to try

• Look at the References on a rebuilt species page (e.g. Cavolinia uncinata, Cylichna biplicata) — original description and modern review side by side
• Watch the embedded video on Kaloplocamus albopunctatus
• Notice how the rewritten descriptions read (around 1,000 species refreshed)
• Click on glossary terms (e.g. "rhinophore", "cerata") to jump to the glossary

We will continue to fold the original literature back into species pages. Feedback is always welcome via the contact form.

Launched "Japan Nudibranch Diving Guide"

A new landing page for divers planning a nudibranch trip to Japan.

URL: https://en.seaslug.world/japan-diving-guide/

Japan is grouped into eight regions (Hokkaido, Hokuriku, Izu & Sagami Bay, Izu Islands & Ogasawara, Kansai, Chugoku-Shikoku, Kyushu, Okinawa). For each region you'll see the headline dive sites, the peak season, and the signature species. You can browse species counts for roughly 2,000 species across 35 dive sites in one place — useful for picking where to go next.

Each region links through to its area page (e.g. Jogashima) for the full per-site detail.

Looking for local guides and shops

Each area page and the Japan guide have space to introduce local dive shops and guides. If you run nudibranch-focused diving in Japan, or have a favourite shop you'd like to see listed, we'd love to hear from you — please reach out through the contact form. English-speaking operators are especially welcome.

Added an FAQ to the top page

A new FAQ section sits near the bottom of the top page. The questions answered:

• What if I can't identify the species?
• Who can submit photos?
• What kind of photos do you accept?
• Are submitted photos used to train AI?
• Who owns the copyright on submitted photos?
• Will my real name be shown?

This site is built from the photos and observations our contributors send in, but it hasn't always been obvious that anyone can take part. Putting the FAQ within easy reach of the landing area makes it clearer where to start if you'd like to contribute.

New About page

We finally have a proper About page that lays out who runs this site, what it is, what it's for, and what's accumulated as a result — all on one page.

URL: https://en.seaslug.world/about/

What's on it:

• Who: about the maintainer (Nobuhiko Kimoto)
• What: a photo-submission sea slug database, and the three outputs your submissions feed into (your personal catalog, the site-wide guide, and the academic dataset)
• Purpose: the "built together" concept
• Results: live counts (contributors / species / observations), the site's academic dataset listings on JaLC DOI (10.48518/00032), BISMaL, and OBIS, examples of photos used on TV and in books, and a list of academic papers that cite the site
• Contact: pointer to the contact form

Photos page and member pages, refreshed

In late May we rebuilt the photos page (/photos) and the member profile pages so that you can drill down by year, month, location, and status without losing your place.

Photos /photos

URL: https://en.seaslug.world/photos

• The page is now titled "Observation Records" — it reads as a dive log rather than a flat photo gallery
• The date picker is now a year/month bar chart, so the bar heights show when activity peaked at a glance
• Each card now shows the photographer's avatar and name. Photographer info used to be one click away

Member pages /@{username}

URL example: https://en.seaslug.world/@nobuhiko

• The legacy URL /photos/{user} now redirects to /@{user}
• A new "observation album" section on each member page lets you slice your own observations by year, month, location, and status at the same time
• The four axes are linked — picking "2025" leaves only the locations you dived that year as available choices, and so on

Tell us how it feels

The bar-chart date picker may not be immediately obvious the first time you try it, and the four-axis filter can land you on an empty result if you combine the wrong things. If anything feels awkward or confusing, please let us know via the contact form or on social media — your reactions decide what we fix next.