Lomanotus vermiformis from Malaysia

Dear Brian,

The only thing your interesting animal has in common with Stylocheilus striatus is the pattern of longitiudinal lines on the body, but of course in Stylocheilus they are black, not white. Stylocheilus is a Sea Hare. Check out the many pages on Sea Hares, which can be found in the General Topics index for their distinguishing features.

One clue to the identity of your animal are the special retractible head tentacles [rhinophores] which are enclosed in a sheath which has a series of papillae around the rim. This shape is very characteristic of a group of the nudibranchs called the Dendronotina [dendronotoideans, dendronotaceans etc] which include well-known genera such as Doto, Melibe, Bornella, Tritonia, etc. Yours is a species called Lomanotus vermiformis which is usually found on its food, the aglaopheniid hydroid Lytocarpus philippinus. In your photos we can see the row of cerata-like papillae along each side of the mantle.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman