Berthella martensi from the Philippines
June 8, 2006
From: Carlos R. Munda
I would like to ask for your assistance in identifying a grasshopper-like nudibranch that we photographed during a dive in davao del sur, in the philippines.
The organism is about 4-5 inches long, dark, smoky brown with yellowish postules all over its body except on the back where it has larger white-ish ones. it has two tubular feelers and a flat 'mouth' on a rounded head part. on its sides were a pair of wing-like extensions which doubled as "sheaths" for what seemed to be its lung part (which looked like feathery leaves).
We found it feeding on under some hard coral in about 20-30 feet of water, and less than 500 meters from the beach.
Locality: Basiawan Bay, Davao Gulf, Sta. Maria Town, 20-30 feet, Davao del Sur, Philippines, pacific, May 3, 2006, shallow reef near beach. Length: 4-5 inches. Photographer: Carlos R. Munda, jr..
Carlos R. Munda
c_munda@yahoo.com
Munda, C. R., 2006 (Jun 8) Berthella martensi from the Philippines. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16773Dear Carlos,
Your animal is Berthella martensi, which is a pleurobranch sea slug. Pleurobranchs are commonly called 'side-gilled slugs' because they have a large single gill on the right side of their body. The feathery structure you mention, and we can see in your photo, is the gill. Have a look at the Fact Sheet, and other related messages, for photos showing the range of colour found in this species, and for information on its biology.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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