This nudibranch is indeed cryptic. To say that they blend in with their host/prey would be an understatement. It took me over 15 years of searching kelp fronds and kelp leaves to find the Corambe steinbergae documented here. By early summer the Lacy Crust Bryozoan, Membranipora villosa can cover the underside of leaf kelp almost completely, providing a place for this cryptic nudibranch to lay its eggs, live, eat and breed. It can easily be mistaken for another “Cryptic Nudibranch” called the Pacific Corambe or Corambe pacifica.  Both animals have a lacy pattern that matches its host prey and both have orange and brownish spots that show through their mantle skirt.  The pacifica, however, has a noticeable posterior notch and its rhinophores lack the smooth, simple form of the steinbergae.  The nudibranchs photographed here were between 8 mm and 12 mm (less than half an inch) and found in the upper subtidal zone.