By Irina Khlopunova
We are Andrey and Irina – passionate divers, underwater photographers, and citizen scientists. Much of our free time goes into documenting marine life of the Red Sea and sharing what we find with others – which is exactly what we plan to do in our new blog series Marine Life of Dahab.
In this section, we’ll share our discoveries, observations, and encounters with some of the most fascinating – and often overlooked – creatures that live right here on our doorstep.
Until recently, Melibe colemani or “Phantom Nudibranch” was known only from Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines; countries in the Coral Triangle, the heart of global marine biodiversity. Photographers from around the world travelled there to see this legendary “ghost nudibranch.”
Now, Egypt joins that list.
We first found Melibe colemani in Dahab in January 2025 – the first record for the Red Sea.
At first it seemed a one-off encounter. But soon new sightings followed from all over Dahab: as far north as Tiger Reef and as far south as Moray Garden. That means it’s not a single stray egg drifting in, but a small, stable population. We haven’t found them yet at the very edges – such as at Blue Hole and Caves – but we’re working on it.
They can be seen both day and night, always tucked next to soft coral Xenia; mimicking its texture so well that you’ll swim past unless you’re in “macro mode”.
On one night dive off the back of Scuba Seekers’s housereef at Roman Rock, we counted three individuals in less than an hour.
From January through July, we continued having regular encounters.
But once the water warmed, they vanished. Maybe they moved deeper or perhaps finished their life cycle after laying eggs. As the sea cooled again in October, tiny juveniles reappeared. Right now they’re small, but by winter they’ll bulk up.
If you want the best chance to meet this strange little marvel, come dive Dahab in the spring.
For European divers who once had to fly halfway around the world to photograph this species, it now takes a five-to-six-hour direct flight to Sharm el-Sheikh – and a short drive to Dahab.
Irina took her first dive in 2003 and has never really surfaced since. An underwater photographer and videographer, she has made more than two thousand dives across Indonesia, the Philippines, the Maldives, and the Red Sea. For the past few years Irina has lived in Sharm El Sheikh with her husband, marine life photographer, and book author Andrey Ryanskiy. Together they explore and film the Red Sea’s hidden macro world – from tiny nudibranchs to rare fish never before recorded in the region. When she’s not under water, Irina runs the social media for Scuba Seekers and helps others discover the small wonders that make diving in Dahab and the Red Sea so addictive in the Facebook group Red Sea Marine Life. You can also follow her and Andrey on Facebook here and here.