Halgerda batangas from Mabul

April 18, 2008
From: Kenneth Yong

Dear Bill,

Is this Halgerda batangas? Unfortunately the dive guide moved from its original position so I can't tell you what substrate it was actually on.

Locality: Mabul Island, Paradise 2 divesite, 6 m, Sabah, Malaysia, Celebes Sea, 19 July 2007. Length: 7-8 cm. Photographer: Kenneth Yong.

Thanks much.

Cordially,
Kenneth

kyong67@tiscali.it

Yong, K., 2008 (Apr 18) Halgerda batangas from Mabul. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20619

Dear Kenneth,
Yes this is H. batangas. It is unfortunate if dive guides are moving animals like this. Apart from leading to misleading photos it can be damaging to the nudibranch. Many encrusting colonial animals have defensive mechanisms such as secretions and stinging cells to deter other from settling on, or even just crawling over the colony. I have even found that putting the coral-eating aeolid Phestilla lugubris (which eats species of Porites), on the wrong species of Porites, will cause it to react violently, curling up and rolling off the colony.  So if you plonk a slug down on a colonial animal it doesn't react well to it can be badly stung, poisoned or even just roll off and get washed away from its food source. If an animal is squeezed into a crevice or for some other reason you need to move it to photograph it, be careful to place it on a bit of dead rock or other inanimate object.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Apr 18). Comment on Halgerda batangas from Mabul by Kenneth Yong. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20619

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