Afelandra Gonzalez, sea slug and Nudibranchs expert

Former professional model turned PADI Instructor, Afelandra, works in La Paz, Mexico (home to a gang of unruly sea lions that love to play with divers!). She loves to teach both adults and children about the wonders of the underwater world, encouraging her students to respect the environment to help ensure the future of ecosystems. 

Afelandra is also a marine biologist who specializes in Opisthobranchs (sea slugs and nudibranchs) and has even discovered new species in the Sea Of Cortez! 

Biography

Afelandra´s professional life started as model, however she always knew that science would be her calling.

She is a Marine Biologist, specialising in the study of Opisthobranchs (Sea Slugs and Nudibranchs). Afelandra has been responsible for discovering several new species of Nudibranchs in the Sea of Cortez. These finds led to her collaborating with various national and international institutions.
Afelandra combines her investigations and scientific publications working assistant as a field producer in Film and television broadcast. Her unique expertise has even been called upon by the king of conservation himself, Sir David Attenborough, with broadcast credits including productions for Animal Planet and the BBC.

This has led a somewhat dramatic increase in the size an type of animal she investigates. Afelandra´s passion for the ocean is evident.

“I am currently a PADI Instructor in La Paz, México and I continue to do courses that increase my level of knowledge in diving. Taking a diving course with me goes beyond learning a dive, in my courses I like to make my students fall in love and who buy the importance of respecting and caring for marine and terrestrial ecosystems. This is achieved by giving curious and ecological data of the organs with which we interact, thanks to my knowledge of Marine Biology and also with the example of our sustainable practices when we go diving.

My mission is to make more people fall in love with nature, children or adults, than they know the wonderful of the aquatic world through diving. I believe that you can not want to take care of something or respect it, if you do not know it. Through the dive I can see how people totally change their perspective and is the perfect time to raise awareness and send them to their homes with a new vision and so they can spread more people and form a huge chain of awareness and love for wildlife and thus ensure the future of ecosystems”.

Hometown

Guadalajara, Mexico

Career Highlights

• Discovering and naming species of Nudibranch
• Becoming an PADI Instructor
• Working on and appearing on a BBC Natural History Unit with Sir David Attenborough voice…..”Light on Earth“
• Becoming a Tec diver and learning to use double tanks, deep diving.