Halgerda maricola
Fahey & Gosliner, 2001

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Dorididae

PHOTO

(WAMS 12318). Specimen, 17 mm, from Rottnest Island, Western Australia. 23 m depth, December, 1998. Photo by G. Gunness. (Fahey & Gosliner, 2001: Fig. 3C).

Halgerda maricola is a small species with a white background color and low ridges which havea thin yellow-orange line along the crest. There are small black spots in the spaces between the ridges and the mantle margin and foot are both lined in yellow. The rhinophores and gills are both white, with small dark splotches of color at the tips. This species is similar to Halgerda formosa. The differences between these two species include the following: H. maricola has dark pigmentation on the rhinophore tips but in H. formosa most of the rhinophore club is black, and there is a black band down the posterior of the rhinophore stalk. H. maricola has dark spots scattered all over the mantle, in the depressions while in H. formosa the dark spots seem to be confined to the mantle skirt region, apparently absent from the central part of the mantle. The tips of the gills of H. maricola are dark, but H. formosa has white gill tips. Fahey & Gosliner consider that there are also reproductive differences between these two species.

Reference:
• Fahey, S.J. & Gosliner, T.M. (2001) On the genus Halgerda (Nudibranchia: Halgerdidae) from Western Australia with descriptions of four new species. Bollettino Malacologico, 37(5-8): 55-76.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2001 (October 10) Halgerda maricola Fahey & Gosliner, 2001. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/halgmari

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