Reticulidia suzanneae from Sodwana Bay, S. Africa

October 2, 2009
From: Colin Ogden

Concerning message #11616:

Hi Bill,
I am attaching a photo taken a month ago of what I believe is a Reticulidia suzanneae which now shows that its range now extends down to Sodwana Bay.

Locality: Sodwana Bay, 40 metres, South Africa, Indian, Aug 2009, deep wall. Length: 50 mm. Photographer: Colin Ogden.

I apologise for the poor quality of the photo, but I am finding that my housing for my camera is distorting at depth and all the buttons get stuck and I can't switch the macro function on.

I thought at first this was a R. halgerda as it was similar to the photo in the latest Gosliner, Behrens, Valdes book, also it was found at 40 meters on an exposed wall facing out to sea.  R. suzzaneae according to this book is found in 10 to 25 metres.

Regards
Colin

scubaco@iafrica.com

Ogden, C., 2009 (Oct 2) Reticulidia suzanneae from Sodwana Bay, S. Africa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22677

Dear Colin,

This is certainly what has been described as R. suzanneae. Perhaps in time we will find that two species may be just extremes of a colour range. Similarly, it is much too early to be precise about geographic ranges of species and their depth distributions. In many cases we have information for very few specimens of each species. That's why records like yours and other Forum contributors are so important - they are enabling us to flesh out the details on colour variation, geographic distribution, and aspects of a species natural history, which are often sadly missing from new species descriptions.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Oct 2). Comment on Reticulidia suzanneae from Sodwana Bay, S. Africa by Colin Ogden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22677

Factsheet

Reticulidia suzanneae

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