Ercolania cf boodleae from Victoria, Australia

September 2, 2006
From: Trevor McMurrich


Hi Bill,

I recently found a slug similar to Ercolania cf. boodleae but it was all black with very few orange tips. I was wondering if it is the same species with local colouring or perhaps E. margaritae.

Locality: Portarlington, 1 metre, Victoria, Australia, Port Phillip Bay, 28 August 2006, reef. Length: 10 mm. Photographer: Trevor McMurrich.

I didn't get a very good shot of the slug, sorry about that. I hope it's good enough to make an id.

Kind regards
Trevor McMurrich

trevm@aanet.com.au

McMurrich, T.B., 2006 (Sep 2) Ercolania cf boodleae from Victoria, Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17666

Dear Trevor,
There is nothing wrong with your photos. The two close-ups could well be the photos on the Fact Sheet for Ercolania boodleae, which varies from almost all black to forms with orange-tipped cerata and white on the head. If you have a look at the discussion in the previous messages you will see that we think it is probably that Ercolania margaretae is the balck colour form of Ercolania boodleae, but until someone gets a chance to compare the anatomy of Australian specimens with those from Japan we wiol take the conservative approach and call the Australian animals Ercolania cf. boodleae.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Sep 2). Comment on Ercolania cf boodleae from Victoria, Australia by Trevor McMurrich. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17666

Factsheet

Ercolania cf. boodleae

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