Trapania safracornia? on eggs

August 26, 2006
From: Tom Davis

Concerning message #16740:

Bill

On 16 June we spotted another Trapania brunnea on what looks like eggs. Is this correct?

Locality: Ammunition Jetty, Coogee, 4m, Western Australia, Australia, Indian Ocean, 16 June 2006, Silty bottom with red algae. Length: 1 cm. Photographer: Tom Davis.

Thanks
Tom Davis

tom.davis@worleyparsons.com

Davis, T.R., 2006 (Aug 26) Trapania safracornia? on eggs. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17405

Dear Tom,
The eggs almost certainly belong to the Trapania. Looking at this animal, the very reddish tinge on the upper half of the rhinophores are much more like the red rhinophores described for T. safracornia. In your earlier message the animal showed no sign of the red.

There doesn't seem to be any sign of red on the gills, but the lateral processes are similar in colour to T. safracornia so I think I will reassess my earlier identification and call these animals T. safracornia. As I said earlier, it is possible this species is just a colour form of  T. brunnea but we need to know much more about colour variability in both species, and also the group I am calling Trapania cf. brunnea.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Aug 26). Comment on Trapania safracornia? on eggs by Tom Davis. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17405

Factsheet

Trapania safracornia

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