Ovulid from Sydney

Dear Sean,
You are right - I certainly don't want to become tangled up in snail identifications. I have a few ovulids on the Forum because they are often mistaken for nudibranchs, and in many ways they have evolved similar defensive strategies - bright colours and the storing of noxious anti-feedant secondary metabolites from their prey, to use in their own defence.

Both Prionovolva cavanaghi (Iredale, 1931) and Prionovolva brevis (Sowerby, 1828) are found around Sydney, but unfortunately most ovulid taxonomy has been done on the shell rather than the animal, but there are a few enlightened souls who have seen the error of their ways. The animal colouration looks very similar to P. brevis. All I am willing to say is that it is almost certainly a species of Prionovolva.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman