Chelidonura sandrana colour morphs

January 25, 2003
From: Nils Anthes

Hi Bill,
Following on from my earlier message here are photos of various colour 'morphs' of Chelidonura sandrana. The lower two photos show approximately the extremes of the range of colour patterns we found here, ranging from very pale, 'sandy' specimens to almost black ones with very few orange spots. Everything in between is present at Lizard Island.
The upper picture shows a typical C. sandrana mating with a large, black one. The black one lacks any kind of spots but in shape looks identical to the smaller animals.

Although we believe that this is still the same species, the pattern strikes and confuses a little bit... I am sending a separate message with a photo of the black animal which occurs in separate populations.
Kind regards
Nils

anthes@uni-muenster.de

Thanks Nils,
I have a included a closeup of the 'typical' form from your 'mating' photo. As you can see in Lindsay Warren's photos all colour forms can be found in mating 'chains'.

It is certainly a large size difference. I realise that in crowded dishes it is quite easy to get animals to mate, but the way the small animal is 'mating' with the large black one in your photo is most unusual, The position and size of the penis and position of the vagina, make this an almost impossible position for mating to occur. But I guess with this size difference, perhaps it is the only way mating can occur. Lindsay Warren's photos show the usual position.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Jan 25). Comment on Chelidonura sandrana colour morphs by Nils Anthes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8997

Factsheet

Chelidonura sandrana

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