Nembrotha rutilans - colour variation

February 8, 2006
From: Bruce Potter


Note added 4 March 2008: Following Pola et al (2008) the name N. rutilans has been replaced by Nembrotha purpureolineata [see message #21419].

Dear Bill,

Nembrotha rutilans are very common at Nelson Bay, and I was interested yesterday to find some with very different markings. I will include three pictures of different animals to show some of the diversity.

Locality: Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, NSW., eastern Australia - Pipeline. Depth: 6 metres to 14 metres. Length: 110 - 120 mm. 5 February 2006. Rocky sandy with weeds and algae. Photographer: Bruce Potter

Regards
Bruce Potter.

bandppotter@bigpond.com

Potter, B., 2006 (Feb 8) Nembrotha rutilans - colour variation. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15763

Dear Bruce,
Thanks for these valuable photos. If you read my comments on quite a few of the species of Nembrotha you will see I suspect a number of them are just colour forms of one or a couple of variable species. For example it is possible that N. rutilans is the same as Nembrotha purpureolineata and Nembrotha sp. 1 - and your three photos certainly show that this species ranges from a very lined form to a form in which the purplish lines could almost be described as the background colour.

It is intersting to see the solitary ascidian Clavulina meridionalis (Herdman, 1891) in both the upper two photos. Perhaps it is eaten by this Nembrotha.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Feb 8). Comment on Nembrotha rutilans - colour variation by Bruce Potter. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15763

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Nembrotha purpureolineata

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