Flabellina sp. 8 from Indonesia

July 30, 2007
From: Ken Tucker

I cannot match to anything I have seen.

Locality: North Sulawesi, Lembeh Strait, 12 metres, Indonesia, Celebes, 28 Nov 2006. Length: 2 cm. Photographer: Ken Tucker.

Ken Tucker

ken@kilili.com

Tucker, K.C., 2007 (Jul 30) Flabellina sp. 8 from Indonesia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20306

Dear Ken,

By coincidence I have just prepared an answer for a message on this species from East Timor [#20205]. The clue is the pattern of red spots around the cerata. Your photo shows the nature of the brackets on the rhinophores very clearly.

I don't know any species of Flabellina which matches this species in colour and rhinophore morphology but interestingly Risbec (1928) described a small aeolid from New Caledonia with very similar rhinophores, Aeolidia obscura. In general body shape and ceratal arrangement it looks the same, and there is nothing contradictory in his colour description. However there is no mention of a ring of red spots around each ceras. he does describe a rather unusual radular tooth however, so perhaps if we could get the radula from a specimen of 'Flabellina sp. 8'  we could see if it was 'Aeolidia obscura'.

  • Risbec, J., 1928. Contribution à l'étude des nudibranches Néo Calédoniens. Faune des Colonies Françaises, 2: 1- 328.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jul 30). Comment on Flabellina sp. 8 from Indonesia by Ken Tucker. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20306

Factsheet

Flabellina sp. 8

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