Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia
May 19, 2006
From: Perry Davis
Dear Bill,
I spotted groups of these magnificent nudibranch while diving (12/05/06) in port phillip bay on a pink Darwinella sponge under a pier in about 4 metres of water it was during the day and they were activing grazing. They were very difficult to see and seemed to stay on the pink sponge for camouflage
Locality: Port Phillip Bay, 3-5 metres, Victoria, Australia, 12 May 2006, sandy. Length: 5-10 mm. Photographer: Perry A Davis.
Regards
Perry
marine discovery centre
Queenscliff
vic
perryadavis@bigpond.com
Davis, P.A, 2006 (May 19) Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16621Dear Perry,
This is the chromodorid Noumea haliclona, which you will see from the Fact Sheet has distinct colour forms in different parts of southeastern Australia. It feeds on pink and yellow darwinellid sponges and is often found in clusters or aggregations. The most likely reason for this is that it has direct development, so instead of planktonic swimming veliger larvae hatching out of its egg ribbon, we found small crawling slugs. Since the eggs are usually deposited on the food sponge, or very near by, the young hatch out on to their food and never move very far away. The name 'haliclona' is unfortunate. It was given to the species because its sponge food was misidentified as a species of Haliclona, a species of spiculate sponges which chromodorids don't eat.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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