Melibe megaceras from the Red Sea

March 12, 2005
From: Oren Lederman


Hi Bill,
Weird looking, ummm, something :-)

I wasn't sure whether this one is a seaslug, but I decided to post it anyway. My dive buddy found it moving on the seagrass at the dive site, and it looked like it was feeding on the sea grass. It was almost transparent, making it very hard to photograph.

Locality:  Near the "Yethush" shipwreck, Eilat Bay, Israel, Red Sea. Depth: ~22 m. Length: about 4 x 4 cm. 18 Feb 2005. sea grass ? tangled filamentous algae ? Photographer: Oren Lederman

Oren Lederman

lederman@bigmail.co.il

Lederman, O., 2005 (Mar 12) Melibe megaceras from the Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13309

Dear Oren,
You had every right to be puzzled by this interesting animal. It is indeed a nudibranch, and although difficult to make out the details, I am pretty sure it is Melibe megaceras, a species only known from the western Pacific. So this is a big range extension. It is a bit difficult to see the animal so I have posted a number of enlargements. In one of them I have labelled the oral hood, so typical of species of Melibe and the related Tethys

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Mar 12). Comment on Melibe megaceras from the Red Sea by Oren Lederman. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13309

Factsheet

Melibe megaceras

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