Re: Glossodoris pallida from Singapore?

September 5, 2007
From: Toh Chay Hoon

Concerning message #20576:

Dear Dr Bill,
Thanks for the ID.

Here's is a photo of the nudibranch on the greyish sponges. Hope it helps.

Locality: Pulau Hantu, 12m, Singapore, South China Sea, 26 August 2007. Photographer: Toh Chay Hoon.

Best Regards,
Chay Hoon

sonnenflower@gmail.com

Toh Chay Hoon, 2007 (Sep 5) Re: Glossodoris pallida from Singapore?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20638

Dear Chay Hoon,
Thanks for your quick reply - and thanks for the sponge photo. It is very valuable. A you can see in these photos the sponge in fact changes colour from white to gray. This type of sponge has usually been identified as 'Spongia sp' because like the Mediterranean 'bath sponge' which gave the genus its name, it lacks spicules in its skeleton and is relatively soft and flexible. But over the last 40 years, Pat Bergquist and other sponge taxonomists have shown that their are two quite distinct families of sponges which superficially look alike, but differ in their metabolite chemistry and in the arrangement of their skeletal fibres. Why this is relevant to nudibranch biologists is that some chromodorids feed specifically on sponges of one of these families - the Thorectidae - but not the other - the Spongiidae. Because their food has often been misidentified as 'Spongia',  there is a confusing mix of sponge species recorded in their diet. This confusion has also obscured the fact that spongiids and thorectids metabolise quite different defensive molecules.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Sep 5). Comment on Re: Glossodoris pallida from Singapore? by Toh Chay Hoon. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20638

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