Flabellina poenicia from Botany Bay, Sydney

May 25, 2007
From: Roxanne Fea

Hi Bill,
Can you assist? We found three beautiful specimens on the hydroid Halocordyle disticha at Bare Island West recently (Sunday March 11 2007) at 11.30am, at 14m, on an outer reef. We think it might be a Phyllodesmium macphersonae?

Locality: Bare Island West, 14m, NSW, Botany Bay, 11 March 2007. Length: 40mm. Photographer: Roxanne Fea.

Many thanks for your time & expertise as always;
Roxanne Fea & Jason Coombs

roxannefea01@optusnet.com.au

Fea, R.I., 2007 (May 25) Flabellina poenicia from Botany Bay, Sydney. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19645

Dear Roxanne & Jason,
One clue that it isn't a species of Phyllodesmium is that it is feeding on a hydroid. Although most aeolids are hydroid feeders, species of Phyllodesmium feed on soft corals and their relatives.

Your animal is Flabellina poenicia. It is not as spectacularly coloured as the animal on the Fact Sheet, but the shape of the rhinophores and the purple marks on its 'cheeks', which are the jaw plates showing through the body wall, are pretty characteristic. Interestingly the gymnoblastic hydroid your animals are on looks to be identical to the one in the Fact Sheet photo.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (May 25). Comment on Flabellina poenicia from Botany Bay, Sydney by Roxanne Fea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19645

Factsheet

Flabellina poenicia

Related messages

  1. Aeolid from South Australia
    From: John Chuk, June 25, 2001
  2. Flabellina poenicia? from South Australia
    From: John Chuk, June 14, 2001
  3. Hello & please a photo of Flabellina poenicia
    From: Sandra Millen, August 27, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages