Melibe maugeana from South Australia

May 25, 2006
From: Sabine Dittmann

Hi Bill,

We just spoke on the phone. Here are some pictures of the crazy creature which I collected during an expedition to the Investigator Island Group. At present it is very happy in an aquarium and busy trying to catch Rotifers. Not the preferred food size (too small), but it seems to keep it busy. I've taken some nice video footage of it feeding etc which provide some more acurate insights.

Locality: Flinders Island, 6 m, [west coast of Eyre Peninsula], South Australia, Great Australian Bight, 21 June 2006, subtidal Posidonia seagrass bed. Length: 1 cm. Photographer: Sabine Dittmann.

Hope to hear back soon.
Cheers
Sabine

sabine.dittmann@flinders.edu.au

Dittmann, S., 2006 (May 25) Melibe maugeana from South Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16693

Dear Sabine,
This is quite an exciting find. It is a perfect match to Bob Burn's description of Melibe maugeana from Victoria. Checking through the literature I suspect this is the first time it has been reported since its original description. There are a few animals on the Forum which I have tentatively identified as M maugeana, but now I see your animal with the red marks, which were specifically mentioned by Bob Burn, I suspect the others [#8562, #8560, #8680 ], are not that species. If so, I suspect we may have at least one more unnamed species in southern Australia.

I have added a few extra close-up photos in a separate message in case they are useful for comparative purposes [message #16701 ]

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (May 25). Comment on Melibe maugeana from South Australia by Sabine Dittmann. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16693

Factsheet

Melibe maugeana

Related messages

  1. More photos of Melibe maugeana
    From: Bill Rudman, May 25, 2006
  2. Photos of Melibe maugeana from Melbourne
    From: Harry Thorman, December 18, 2002
  3. Melibe? from Port Philip Bay, Victoria
    From: H. Thorman & A. McLaughlin, December 4, 2002
  4. Melibe maugeana from nthn Tasmania
    From: Bill Rudman, December 4, 2002

Show factsheet and all related messages