Longest, shortest, heaviest and smallest
A page for 'records'. See messages below.
See also:
• Messages about very large Dendrodoris carbunculosa
• Bruce Wight's message about a large Hexabranchus.
• Bruce Potter's message about Asteronotus.
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (November 26) Longest, shortest, heaviest and smallest. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/guinness
Related messages
Longest nudibranch?
January 17, 2001
From: Tim Schulz
Hello,
My name is Tim Schulz and I was wondering if you may be able to shed some light on a situation I have found myself in. This weekend I was diving on the Great Barrier Reef on a trip that departs from Townsville. On one particular night dive i saw a nudibranch the measured approximately 35cm +. I was between 9 and 12m deep and i thought little of it until the people on the boat said that nudibranchs do not occur at that size. Is that so or is that a normal size for one. If you could reply with a bit of information or a contact address for someone who may know about it i would be very grateful.
Cheers,
Tim.
Tim Schulz,
James Cook University,
Douglas 4811,
QLD, Australia.
matatu@hotmail.com
Schulz, T., 2001 (Jan 17) Longest nudibranch?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3549Dear Tim,
Have a look at the page the page on the Sea Slug Forum discussing largest longest etc nudis, which will give you some background information and some species to have a look at. Basically 35cm is big but not outrageous for some species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
What is the largest sea slug?
November 30, 1999
From: Amelia Campbell
I am sorry if this is a bit of a trivial question but I am trying to find out the species and size of the largest known sea slug and wondered if anyone can help me.
Amelia Campbell
A.Campbell@nhm.ac.uk
Campbell, A., 1999 (Nov 30) What is the largest sea slug?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1615Dear Amelia,
Your question arrived at a very opportune moment. See Yoshi Hirano's message about his large find in Japan.
I think the biggest Sea Slug is a species of Sea Hare called Aplysia vaccaria which is found on the west coast of North America from Morro Bay, California to the Gulf of California. Dave Behrens, in his book Pacific Coast Nudibranchs says it can grow to about 1 metre long and can weigh nearly 14kg. I can't find a good photo of it on the web, so if someone would like to send me one I would like to put it on the Forum.
The biggest nudibranch, is usually said to be the tritoniid, Tochuina tetraquetra which is found in the north Pacific, from the Kuril Islands in Russia, south to Malibu, in Los Angeles County, California. A picture of it can also be found on Mike Miller's Slug Site. It can grow up to 300mm long.
However a large form of the dorid nudibranch Hexabranchus sanguineus is reported to grow to at least 520mm in length off Djibouti in the Red Sea (Double, 1992). I have also seen photos of very similarly sized animals from deepwater off Fiji.
Pleurobranchs can also grow quite large. In a message on the Forum I report finding animals of Pleurobranchus forskalii growing to 310mm in New Caledonia.
If anyone else has 'record' lengths, weights, etc let me know and I'll add them to this page.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
Reference:
Double, T. (1992) Here be Giants. BBC Wildlife, 10(5): 34-40.
