Phyllidia elegans laying eggs

May 30, 2007
From: Mirjam Broos


Dear Bill,

As a real beginner in seaslug determination I am not even sure about this species. Can you help me out?

Locality: Angels Windows, Lembeh Strait, max 25 metres, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Celebes Sea, 09 october 2006, pinnacle. Length: ?. Photographer: Geert Prast.

Mirjam Broos

mirjam.broos@planet.nl

Broos, M., 2007 (May 30) Phyllidia elegans laying eggs. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18963

Dear Mirjam,
One good thing about the Forum is that even 'beginners' can make a valuable contribution. This is Phyllidia elegans, and if you look carefully in both your photos you can see that the animal is laying a flat egg ribbon typical of phyllidiids. However we have very little information on the biology of these animals and as far as I know this is the first photo of its egg ribbon. Also its presence on this red-orange sponge is quite interesting as a number of phyllidiids feed on orange sponges of the genus Phakellia. These spiculate sponges are not that easy to identify from photos alone, but it certainly is an interesting co-incidence or correlation, as we know nothing of the biology of P. elegans.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (May 30). Comment on Phyllidia elegans laying eggs by Mirjam Broos. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18963

Factsheet

Phyllidia elegans

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