These guys have taken over the Poor Knights Islands this winter 2023. We are not sure what type of okenia that is.
First thought it would be okenia atkinsonorum but the colors of papillae don't match. Any guess?
I think it’s a Tatahi skink. Oligosoma “Three Kings, Te Paki, Western Northland”.
There were 4 small colonies of these within a 10m length and at a depth of 7m in a low light area. The photo is of the two largest specimens at ~ 10mm column height
Depth 5m, length ~40mm, see also 11 Dec 2020 https://inaturalist.nz/observations/66385499
Nice to finally find on the south coast. It was just crawling through caulerpa randomly of course. Really nice colours on this individual.
~4.5cm long
~2m subtidal