Totally pink!

January 13, 1998
From: Bill Chambers

Note added 10 Dec. 2007: This species has been identified as Okenia atkinsonorum [see message #21273].

Attached file contains a photo of a pair of totally pink nudibranchs that a colleague of mine took in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, New South Wales. We have scoured our (limited) sources with no success. Whilst I realise that full taxonomy entails more that a photo ID, if you could shed some light on our "new" species we would be very grateful. I am a SCUBA Instructor (& sometimes U/W photographer) on most weekends, and an amateur Nudi-phyle at other times... So I am always being questioned on "which one is this",
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Bill Chambers.

chambers@fastlink.com.au

Chambers, B., 1998 (Jan 13) Totally pink!. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/72

Your nudibranch is a fairly common east coast (warm water) nudibranch which is at present unnamed...one of many. It is at present considered a species of Hopkinsia but there are few differences between that genus and the closely related genus Okenia. It feeds exclusively on the bryozoan you have photographed it on, Pleurotoichus clathratus. You can clearly see on your photo where the slugs have stripped the living tissue off the tips of the colony...Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 1998 (Jan 13). Comment on Totally pink! by Bill Chambers. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/72

Factsheet

Okenia atkinsonorum

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