Tambja tenuilineata
Miller & Haagh, 2005

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Polyceridae
Subfamily: Nembrothinae

DISTRIBUTION

East Australian coast (New South Wales, southern Queensland, Lord Howe Island), northern New Zealand.

PHOTO

Fly Point, Port Stephens, central New South Wales, Oct 1986. Length approx 30 mm. AM C151518. Photo: Bill Rudman.

Formerly on the Forum as Tambja sp. 1, this species is not uncommon on arborescent bryozoans, especially Bugula dentata, and ranges from green to yellow with black longitudinal lines which are usually sunken grooves. In some specimens the black lines can be very indistinct or even absent. The rhinophores are the same colour as the background colour except for the present of a dark region at the rhinophore tip which ranges from almost black to a lighter purple. There a five or six gills which also have a background colour matching the body, and a dark or purplish tip, as on the rhinophores, but in some animals the gill lamellae can also be purplish or a darker almost black colour, giving the gills almost black edging.

• Miller, M.C. & Haagh, J.M. (2005) A new species of the dorid nudibranch genus Tambja Burn, 1962 (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) from Australasia. Vita Malacologica, 3: 55-60.  

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2007 (May 17) Tambja tenuilineata Miller & Haagh, 2005. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/tambtenu

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