Phyllodesmium sp. 11

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Glaucidae

PHOTO

Lembeh, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. December 2002. Upper: Stephen Wong. Lower: Takako Uno

Note added 17 February 2007: This species has now been named Phyllodesmium rudmani.

This is a apparently an unnamed species of Phyllodesmium. I am pretty sure the soft-coral it is mimicking is a species of Xenia. It has similarities to Phyllodesmium kabiranum which sometimes has white lines on the upper part of the cerata but we would need to find some intermediates, and compare their anatomy to be sure.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (March 10) Phyllodesmium sp. 11 [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/phyllodsp11