Cerberilla africana ? from South Africa

September 12, 2007
From: Colin Ogden


Dear Bill,
I have had the upper photo for some time, since Feb 2006, and then one of the other dive operators here (Greg de Valle), knowing my love for nudi's queried his photo (lower photo) with me. Unfortunately I could not ID it, but could show him my photo. I see from your comments on the Cerberilla affinis, that there are 2 other species fairly similar to the C. affinis, the C. africana and the C. moebii. I haven't seen any pictures of these, and they are not on the forum. Could these pictures possibly be one of those two species.

Locality: Sodwana Bay, 18 metres, South Africa, Indian, Feb & Oct 2006, Reef. Length: 20 mm. Photographer: Colin Ogden & Greg de Valle.

Your help is always appreciated.
regards
Colin

scubaco@iafrica.com

Ogden C M, 2007 (Sep 12) Cerberilla africana ? from South Africa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20692

Dear Colin,

I have added a Fact Sheet on Cerberilla africana. Fortunately I had a photo of a single specimen I collected in Dar es Salaam [message #20705]. Counting your two photos that means I know of only 4 specimens of this species ever being reported. I did mention the possibly that C. moebii (Bergh, 1888) could be the same species. It was described from Mauritius, and the little bit of information we have on it suggests it belongs in the same group as C. affinis and C. africana, but we don't know enough about any of them to be sure if they are all one species or a number of similar-looking species. I have included alongside the only information we have on the colour of Fenrisia moebii Bergh, 1888 from Plate 77.

  • Bergh, L.S.R. (1888)  Malacologische Untersuchungen. In: C.G. Semper, Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen, Wissenschaftliche Resultate. Band 2, Heft 16a., 755-814. (Pls. 77-81)

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Sep 12). Comment on Cerberilla africana ? from South Africa by Colin Ogden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20692

Factsheet

Cerberilla africana

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