Flabellina delicata
Gosliner & Willan, 1991

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Flabellinidae

DISTRIBUTION

Indo-West Pacific [Natal, South Africa; Papua New Guinea; Okinawa, Japan]

PHOTO

Zamami Island, Okinawa Island group, Japan. 26 May, 2002; Length: 20mm. Depth: 20m. Photo: Nishina Masayoshi

One of a group of species of Flabellina with papillae on the posterior side of the rhinophores. The background color of the body is a translucent pinkish red or purple, deeper in some animals than others. The oral tentacles are the same colour with a reddish colour at the tips. The rhinophores are a translucent orange or red, the colour deepening in the papillate part of the rhinophores. The basal two-thirds of the cerata are either translucent white or dusted with white, and the duct of the digestive gland is opaque white. There is sometimes a distinctive opaque whitish band around the cerata at the upper edge of the white region of each ceras. Above the white band there is another translucent region, then a band of golden-yellow or orange. This yellow/orange region seems to be caused by the swollen tip of the digestive gland duct rather than epithelial pigmentation on the ceratal wall. Above this there is a subapical transverse ring of dark translucent purple. The ceratal tip is translucent white. The rhinophores are elongate and slender with approximately 30 well-separated papillae on their posterior surface. The living animals are 15-20mm in length.

References:
• Gosliner, T. (1987) i>Nudibranchs of Southern Africa. A Guide to the Opisthobranch Molluscs of Southern Africa. Sea Challengers / Jeff Hamann: Tokyo. 136pp.
• Gosliner, T.M. & Willan, R.C. (1991) Review of the Flabellinidae (Nudibranchia: Aeolidacea) from the tropical Indo-Pacific, with the descriptions of five new species. The Veliger, 34(2): 97-133.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (March 16) Flabellina delicata Gosliner & Willan, 1991. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/flabdeli

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