Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia

August 21, 2006
From: Trevor McMurrich

Hi Bill,

I assume this little nudi is a Noumea haliclona but I'm not 100% sure because of the protuberances on its sides. Are they common to the species?

Locality: St Leonards, 3 metres, Victoria, Port Phillip Bay, 23-04-06, pier. Length: 8 mm. Photographer: Trevor McMurrich.

Thank you for your assistance.

Kind regards,
Trevor

trevm@aanet.com.au

McMurrich, T.B., 2006 (Aug 21) Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17543

Dear Trevor,
Yes this is one of the colour forms of Noumea haliclona.  The 'protuberance' along each side is just a flod of the mantle edge. Quite a few species of Noumea do this and in some species, such as N. decussata, it is a characteristic of the species. One common colour character found in all the colour forms of N. haliclona is the red or orange spot just below the tip on the front of each rhinophore.

This species use feeds on pink or yellow species of darwinellid sponge. In your photo, the orange-brown sponge in the lower right corner looks like a darwinellid, so it is possible that that is its food sponge as well, so it would be worth keeping an eye out for it on such a sponge.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Aug 21). Comment on Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia by Trevor McMurrich. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17543

Factsheet

Noumea haliclona

Related messages

  1. Noumea haliclona from Victoria, Australia
    From: Perry Davis, May 19, 2006
  2. Noumea haliclona from South Australia
    From: Dennis Hutson, February 14, 2005
  3. Noumea margaretae? from New South Wales
    From: Judith Martin, February 26, 2001
  4. Noumea haliclona from Sydney
    From: Noel Conlon , June 8, 2000
  5. Colour variation in Noumea haliclona
    From: Bill Rudman., June 8, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages