First record of Stiliger smaragdinus from New Caledonia
August 10, 2006
From: Jean-François Hervé
Dear Dr. Rudman,
Attached is a pictures of a nudibranch I observed one time in New Caledonian's lagoon at approximately 6 meters depth.
Locality: Noumea, 6 m, New Caledonia, Pacific Ocean, July 2006. Length: 1.5 cm. Photographer: Jean-François Hervé.
Could you help me? Thank you.
Jean-François Hervé
jfherve@free.fr
Hervé, J.F., 2006 (Aug 10) First record of Stiliger smaragdinus from New Caledonia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17400
Dear Jean-François,
Congratulations on this nice find. Although it looks like an aeolid nudibranch, it is in fact a sacoglossan sea slug. One clue to it being a sacoglossan is the single pair of head tentacles, which are enrolled, as I show in the inset I have added in the upper photo.
This species, Stiliger smaragdinus, has an amazing resemblance to the green alga Caulerpa racemosa on which it lives and feeds. It feeds by sucking the cell contents out of the large bubble-like cells of the Caulerpa. First described from Japan. it has since been found in Australia and northern New Zealand.
It is almost certainly widespread in the tropical western Pacific, and I suspect the lack of previous records of it in New Caledonia, or anywhere else in the tropical Pacific, is because of its remarkably good camouflage.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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