Halgerda from Durban, South Africa
August 1, 2000
From: Allan Connell
Hi Bill
I collected this little specimen in about 100m water depth off Scottburgh on the Natal south coast, in a basket dredge at night in early June. I would be interested to know if you can ID it as my literature is a bit limited. Valder Fraser of Durban suggested I send it to you.
With greetings
Allan Connell
aconnell@csir.co.za
Connell, A., 2000 (Aug 1) Halgerda from Durban, South Africa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2774Dear Allan,
You seem to have found an interesting animal, which to my knowledge has not been found before. It has similarities in colour to some western Pacific species like the recently described Halgerda okinawa but it lacks the yellow orange colouration of that species. Your animal was living in relatively deep water for these animals so it is possible it is a pale colour version of something with more colour elsewhere in its range.
I don't know how easy it is for you to do more 'basket dredging', but basically we would need some more specimens so that we would have a better idea of just how variable its colour pattern was.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
