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/17543Dear 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
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