Re: Philinopsis taronga from Victoria, Australia

May 17, 2003
From: Audrey Falconer


Here's a specimen of Philinopsis taronga from Portarlington (in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria [Australia]), 16 March 1997. I've never been able to work out which part of the animal is which in this photo, the way the animal is twisting turning. This is one of Leon Altoff's (my husband) first marine photos and he has improved since then! Unfortunately the slide is scratched and the water wasn't clean.

This is the only specimen we've photographed, and this is the only picture we have of it.

We've finished our field work for this year and will organise some pictures for the Forum in the next month or two. I suspect you'll be especially interested in Elysia furvicauda. I think it's the prettiest animal I've seen all summer. Are you also interested in some common slugs that aren't on the Forum? Spurilla macleayi, for example?
Audrey

audrey@bluering.org.au

Dear Audrey,
Thanks very much for this photo. I guess you have worked out the head end is at the top. Aglajids, especially the burrowing ones are very uncomfortable in flat smooth dishes. Since they spend much of their life buried in sand I guess they need the sensation of something pressing on them all over their body before they feel comfortable. My recent photos of Melanochlamys queritor show a similar 'uncomfortable' animal.

Leon's photo is very welcome as it shows an intermediate colour form between the New Zealand animals, with the brown reduced to a reticulate pattern, and the New South Wales animals where the brown is a dominant background colour. In this animal the front of the body and parts of the parapodia show the brown as a background colour while the rest show it as a reticulation.

Concerning your promise of future intersting photos. I certainly look forward to photos of Elysia furvacauda. I am interested in photos of even the most common nudibranchs from Victoria. Despite Bob Burn's excellent studies of the fauna, there are still very few published colour photos of Victorian opisthobranchs, and as we can see from other regions, a few photos showing variation are very valuable. I have done some collecting in Victoria, but short visits by intinerant collectors can never replace the work of residents who can sample a region regularly.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (May 17). Comment on Re: Philinopsis taronga from Victoria, Australia by Audrey Falconer. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9982

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