Halgerda - different species mating

April 9, 2003
From: Atsushi Ono


Dear Bill,
I recently came across this amazing mating between different species. In fact I saw a mating between these species about ten years ago too but unfortunately I did not have a camera available. Again I did not have a camera this time, but luckily my diving guests did.

These photos show H. carlsoni and H. diaphana, at Zamami Is. in Kerama Ids, Okinawa, Japan.

About 10m depth, March 2003. Photos by Mitsuo & Ayumi Murakami. These photos were taken by two digital cameras.
Sincerely,
Atsushi Ono

ononini@cosmos.ne.jp

Ono, A., 2003 (Apr 9) Halgerda - different species mating. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9587

Dear Atsushi,
Thanks for the very interesting photos of the 2 species of Halgerda mating. I am afraid the first question people who see the photos will ask is 'Are they really mating? because we can't see the genital organs joined. When I posted the photos of the Hypselodoris bullocki and H. apolegma mating I heard that at least one colleague was not convinced they were mating even though you can see the genital organs everted and joined. So it would be nice to know if you could see the genital organs in contact or whether you touched the animals to see if they were joined together. I think I will need to start a page for cross-species mating so these interesting observations can be cross referenced.
Best wishes
Bill

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Apr 9). Comment on Halgerda - different species mating by Atsushi Ono. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9587

Factsheet

Halgerda diaphana

Related messages

  1. Re: Two Halgerda species mating
    From: Atsushi Ono, April 10, 2003
  2. Re: Three? Halgerda from Japan
    From: C. Carlson & P.J.Hoff, March 20, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages