Sea Slug or Centipede?

December 30, 2004
From: Toshiko Tani

My friend and I saw a creature in the attached photo when we were diving near Beqa Island, Fiji, in the middle of December 2004. We went through pages of sea slug information available on the Net to identify what it was but have not had any luck. Could someone in this forum kindly tell us what this is. It may not even be a sea slug but something else...

Locality: 30 minutes by a boat toward the northwest of Beqa Island, Fiji. Depth: 15 metres. Length: 150mm. December 18, 2004. Photo: Yoko Morimoto.

Toshiko

toshiko.tani@db.com

Toshiko, T., 2004 (Dec 30) Sea Slug or Centipede?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12851

Dear Toshiko,
This is indeed a sea slug. It is the nudibranch Pteraeolidia ianthina. As you will see on the species' Fact Sheet it is one of a very interesting group of nudibranchs which we have called solar-powered because they have many microscopic plants living in their bodies which provide them with sugars and other nutrition. Pteraeolidia is often found like this extended out in the sunlight so the plants in its body can use the sun's energy to photosynthesise. Have a look at Matthias Huerlimann's message [#12820 ] for a photo of a juvenile.

It certainly looks like a centipede, and one of the early names for this species was Flabellina scolopendrella because the French scientist who found it thought it looked like a centipede, [scolopendre = centipede in French]. Have a look at the many other messages on the page. Some of the photos will give you a good idea of the size and shape of this animal.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2004 (Dec 30). Comment on Sea Slug or Centipede? by Toshiko Tani. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12851

Factsheet

Pteraeolidia ianthina

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