Tritoniopsilla elegans - egg laying

September 19, 2008
From: Sven Kahlbrock


Hello Bill,

Here is a new species for me which I found during a night dive in El Fanadir / Hurghada, in the Egyptian Red Sea. There were a couple in a soft coral. Is it possible, that they are Tritonia alba?

Locality: El Fanadir Foc / Hurghada, 14 m, Egypt, Red Sea, 25 march 2008, at soft corral. Length: 12 mm. Photographer: Sven Kahlbrock.

Sven Kahlbrock

s_kahlbrock@web.de

Kahlbrock, S., 2008 (Sep 19) Tritoniopsilla elegans - egg laying. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21564

Dear Sven,

Thanks for these interesting photos. It is Tritoniopsis elegans. For some years the white form was known as Tritoniopsilla alba, which I guess is where you got the name Tritonia alba. The white spirals in your photos are egg ribbons, almost certainly of this species.

The soft coral in your photos looks very like a species of Dendronephthya, which makes me wonder just what this species usually feeds on. It has been thought that it feeds on the leathery soft coral Lobophyton [Family Alcyoniidae] but we have a number of records on the Forum of it feeding on Dendronephthya . Perhaps earlier records of it on Lobophyton are wrong? Looking at Bernard Picton's message from Hong Kong [#5075 ], the soft coral I tentatively identified there as Lobophyton could well be the neptheid Capnella. This could suggest that Tritoniopsis elegans specialises on soft corals of the Family Neptheidae but clearly a lot more work needs to me done - another thing to add to our 'to do' list.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Sep 19). Comment on Tritoniopsilla elegans - egg laying by Sven Kahlbrock. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21564

Factsheet

Tritoniopsis elegans

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