Cerberilla affinis
Bergh, 1888

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Aeolidiidae

PHOTO

Lord Howe Is, off New South Wales, Australia, December 1988. 70mm long alive. PHOTOS: Bill Rudman.

Species of Cerberilla live in sandy substrates where they burrow beneath the surface and so are seldom seen. They have a very broad foot and the cerata are often very long and extremely numerous, arranged in transverse rows across the body.

Cerberilla affinis was originally described from Indonesia. It is also known from Lord Howe Island, the eastern Australian mainland and New Caledonia and is probably widespread in at least the West Pacific. Two species from the Indian Ocean, C. africana Eliot, 1903b (East Africa) and C. moebii (Bergh, 1888b - Mauritius) are very similar in colour and may prove to be synonymous. Unfortunately most species have been described from single specimens, and so the colour variability of species is not well understood.

See Cerberilla sp. 2. which may be a juvenile.

• Bergh, L.S.R. (1888). Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Aeolidiaden. IX. Verhandlungen der koniglich-kaiserlich Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien (Abhandlungen), 38: 673-706, Pls. 16-20.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (November 25) Cerberilla affinis Bergh, 1888. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/cerbaffi

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