Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea

January 31, 2008
From: Sven Kahlbrock


Hello Bill,

I found this nice species today; - probably a Pleurobranchus. A similar picture is in the Debelius / schneckenführer indopacific book, where he calls it P. spec., but it should only be common in the Andaman Sea/ Thailand.

Locality: El Fanadir Foc, Hurgada, 12 m, Egypt, Red Sea, 26 january 2008, at a rock. Length: 30 mm. Photographer: Sven Kahlbrock.

Sven Kahlbrock

s_kahlbrock@web.de

Kahlbrock, S., 2008 (Jan 31) Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21348

Dear Sven,

I am pretty sure this is a juvenile Pleurobranchus grandis. Have a look at my photo in an earlier message [#13705] of a similar animal which I identified as a juvenile of that species. P. peroni has similar purple spots when it is a juvenile [see Fact Sheet] but P. grandis has a ring of small tubercles around each of the large ones. Although these secondary tubercles aren't clear in your photos, I suspect the yellow-orange ring around each purple spot is an indication of them. Another distinctive feature of P. grandis is the large funnel-like fold formed at the back of the mantle in adults. In your photos we can see a similar fold is present even in even quite small animals.

I am sorry I can't comment on Debelius's new book as I haven't seen it. I assume that 'P. spec' just means 'an unidentified species of Pleurobranchus'. I am afraid you can't take much notice of locality data in photo books like that as usually the locality is just the place the photo was taken or where the author has seen it. It may not be the known geographic range of the species. If you follow messages on the Forum for long you will see that through the help of many pairs of eyes, we are extending the know geographic range of many species on a regular basis, so even data in well researched books often needs to be revised quite quickly.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Jan 31). Comment on Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea by Sven Kahlbrock. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21348

Factsheet

Pleurobranchus grandis

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