Ceratosoma alleni
Gosliner, 1996

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Initially reported from the Philippines, messages on the Forum report it as well from West Papua and East Timor.

PHOTO

A larger version of Michael Miller's photo can be found on his Slug Site. I am very grateful for his permission to use it here.

"Ceratosoma alleni was just recently described by Gosliner in the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Vol 49, No. 3, pp. 115-126, April 9, 1996. Ceratosoma alleni is named for Jerry Allen of Tucson, Arizona, who first discovered this species near Dakak Resort, Dapitan, northern Mindanao in March 1993. Thus far this species is only known from the Mindanao and Luzon Islands in the Philippines. The external morphology of Ceratosoma alleni is unique among described species of Ceratosoma. It is the only species with prolonged lateral extensions of the notum which contain glandular arrays on the ventral surface. Ceratosoma alleni closely resembles an unidentified xeniid soft coral which has been found in the same habitat. This species may closely resemble the soft coral to elude visual predators" .... Terry Gosliner [extract from Mike Miller's Slug Site]

Reference:
• Gosliner, T.M. 1996. Phylogeny of Ceratosoma (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae), with Descriptions of Two New Species. Proceedings of the Californian Academy of Science, 49(3):115-126.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1998 (October 2) Ceratosoma alleni Gosliner, 1996. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/ceraallen

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