Halgerda cf. toliara from Mayotte
January 7, 2004
From: Marina Poddubetskaia
Dear Bill,
In April I have sent you strange Halgerda photos from Mayotte, taken by Isabelle Ruffin [see message]. Last November, during my collecting mission there I saw 2 other specimens of this species.
The median yellow line and a raised yellow gill pocket seem to be constant characteristics of this variant. But also there can be some secondary yellow lines, like in the second specimen here.
There is a book dealing with marine fauna from Mayotte: Images & Magie du Grand Lagon, Frederique et Jean-Michel Maggiorani, 1991". In this book there is a photo of this Halgerda species with broken median line and some secondary yellow lines too.
I think that compared to usual Halgerda toliara (see my previous message), this variant seems to be a distinct species. What do you think about it ?
Upper Photo:
Date: November 06, 2003. Location: Mayotte Island, Indian Ocean. Site: Passe en S, buoy n° 2. Depth: 11.5m' Size: 15-17mm
Middle & Lower Photo:
Date: November 15, 2003. Location: Mayotte Island, Indian Ocean. Site: Passe en S, buoys n° 6&7. Depth: 6m. Size: 18mm
Cheers,
Marina.
nembro@nembro.info
Poddubetskaia, M., 2004 (Jan 7) Halgerda cf. toliara from Mayotte. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11745Dear Marina,
We still have a lot to learn about colour variations in these species as my messages today on colour variation in H. formosa and H. wasinensis, illustrate.
While these two animals in this message lack the reticulate pattern of the animals in your other message, the lower animal has traces of a reticulate pattern. As it is almost certainly related to the animal in the upper photo, they show a link between non-reticulate and reticulate specimens. At this stage I would suspect the animals in your two messages are the same species, but we need more material before we can say much more. Shireen Fahey may be able to give us more information on variability in H. toliara
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
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