Hydatina physis - more photos

June 2, 2001
From: George Evatt

Hi Bill,

Here are some more photos of the animals from Clifton Gardens. They are actually stills from my digital U/W video camera. The biggest group I found on the second night were 3 together, thought there were dozens of them about.

Regards
George

coralsea@intercoast.com.au

Evatt, G., 2001 (Jun 2) Hydatina physis - more photos. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4463

Thanks George,
I have only ever found them once in large numbers but I regularly am told of people seeing large aggregations of them together. I guess like Aplysia aggregations its just a case of a simultaneous settlement of lots of larvae together all reaching maturity about the same time. The problem with trying to study something like this is that there is no way to be sure just where and where it will happen again.

One intersting feature you can see in your photos is how the colour of the animal can vary considerably depending on the lighting. It is not just an artefact photography and can appear this way when viewed with the naked eye.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Jun 2). Comment on Hydatina physis - more photos by George Evatt. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4463

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