Phyllodesmium briareum egg laying

May 26, 2001
From: Mary Jane Adams

Hi Bill,
I had a double surprise when I looked at this picture from my recent Philippine trip. First I noticed that the Phyllodesmium briareum was laying an egg coil. Then I saw the little orange nudibranch at the bottom of the frame. Terry Gosliner identified the little guy for me as Favorinus tsuruganus. Depth: 8 meters, Length of P. briareum: about 15 mm. Length of F. tsuruganus: about 3 mm
Divesite: Sepok Wall, Batangas, Philippines, May 5, 2001.
Best regards,
Mary Jane

divepng@yahoo.com

Adams, M.J., 2001 (May 26) Phyllodesmium briareum egg laying. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4396

Thanks Mary Jane,
Not what you would call a very auspicious start to life to have your egg deposited alongside an aeolid nudibranch which specialises in eating opisthobranch eggs. If by chance you have a photo of the egg mass it might be interesting to make a rough estimate of the egg diameter. Large eggs are usually an indication of a species with direct development, in which the free-swimming larval stage is forgone and tiny crawling slugs hatch out of the egg. Some of the coral-eating species of Phestilla have larvae which only spend a few minutes in the plankton before settling down on their host coral colony.

I don't know what happens with any species of the soft-coral feeding genus Phyllodesmium, but Lindsay Warren's message does suggest that P. briareum may be worth following up.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (May 26). Comment on Phyllodesmium briareum egg laying by Mary Jane Adams . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4396

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Phyllodesmium briareum

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