Noumea haliclona
Victoria colour form
PHOTO
UPPER RIGHT: Flinders, Westernport Bay, Victoria, March 1986. 19mm long alive, on Dendrilla rosea.
LOWER PHOTOS: 7km South of Mallacoota, nthn Victoria, February 1983. LEFT: many juveniles 2-11mm long on pink aplysillid sponge, Darwinella cf. gardneri. RIGHT: Adults, 13, 15mm long alive. PHOTOS: Bill Rudman.
In Victoria, specimens are always pink with red or orange spots and a whitish border. They have only been found feeding on the pink aplysillid sponges, Dendrilla rosea and Darwinella cf. gardneri. There is a distinct boundary between the New South Wales and Victorian colour forms at Green Cape on the border between the two states. At Mallacoota, just south of Green Cape, the typical pink form can be very common while at Eden, a few kilometers north of Green Cape, only the white or pink New South Wales form with a yellow border can be found. (Sponge identification - P.R.Bergquist).
See main Noumea haliclona Page.
References:
• Rudman, W.B. (1983) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Chromodoris splendida, C. aspersa and Hypselodoris placida colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 78: 105-173.
• Rudman, W.B. (1986) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Noumea flava colour group. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 88: 377-404.
•Rudman, W.B. (1991) Purpose in Pattern: the evolution of colour in chromodorid nudibranchs. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 57, (T.E. Thompson Memorial Issue):5-21.
•Avern, G.J. (1986) The biology of the nudibranch mollusc Noumea haliclona (Burn, 1957). M.Sc. Thesis, University of Sydney (unpublished).
Rudman, W.B., 2000 (May 31) Noumea haliclona Victoria colour form. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/noumhali3
