Hallaxa chani
Gosliner & Williams, 1975
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Actinocyclidae
DISTRIBUTION
Hallaxa chani ranges from central California to southeast Alaska (Gosliner & Williams, 1975; Millen, 1989).
PHOTO
UPPER RIGHT: showiing three animals on the underside of of a cobble at North Cove, Cape Arago, Oregon, 31 August 1981 alongside a colony of their food sponge Halisarca.
LOWER RIGHT: The translucent, almost transparent, nature of the body can be seen. This enhances its ability to be perfectly camouflaged on its food sponge, as the background colour shows through.
Photos: J. Goddard.
Hallaxa chani ranges from central California to southeast Alaska and grows to about 30 mm in length. It is rare in the southern part of its range, but in the Pacific Northwest, can be quite common in boulder/cobble habitats with large populations of its sponge prey, Halisarca sp. (Goddard, 1981, 1984; Goddard et al., 1997). Most records of Hallaxa chani are from the intertidal zone, but Millen (1983 and 1989) found it subtidally at unspecified depths in British Columbia and Alaska.
Hallaxa chani preys exclusively on Halisarca sp., a slick-textured dendroceratid sponge lacking both spicules and spongin fibers (Goddard, 1981, 1984, 1998). Like its congeners, Hallaxa chani is remarkably cryptic on its prey, both in color and texture. Both are tan to yellow-tan in color, and Hallaxa chani also lacks spicules. Additionally, the mantle edge of Hallaxa chani is semi-translucent and blends in almost seamlessly when spread out on the surface of Halisarca sp.
The radular teeth of Hallaxa chani are similar in shape to those of other nudibranchs known to prey primarily on sponges that lack spicules and provided an early clue that Hallaxa chani does not feed on colonial ascidians as originally reported by McDonald & Nybakken (1978) (Goddard, 1981). As noted by Nybakken & McDonald (1981), nudibranchs that specialize on ascidians or fleshy ctenostome bryozoans have a radula dominated by large, paired, wing-shaped lateral teeth. Dorids specializing on dendroceratid and dictyoceratid sponges have thin, comb-like outer lateral teeth with multiple denticles (Goddard, 1981, personal observations; Rudman, 1984; and see electron micrographs of radulae in Gosliner & Johnson, 1994).
Cadlina modesta (which has outer lateral teeth similar in shape to Hallaxa chani) also feeds on Halisarca sp. (Goddard, 1984, 1998) and is a potential competitor of Hallaxa chani. However at Cape Arago, Oregon, twice as many C. modesta were found feeding on the pink-colored dendroceratid sponge Aplysilla glacialis, as on Halisarca sp. Moreover, in a laboratory preference test, three individuals of C. modesta chose Aplysilla glacialis over Halisarca sp. in 12 out of 12 trials (Goddard, unpublished data).
Hallaxa chani lays cream-colored, ribbon-shaped egg masses in a loose coil of 1.5 - 2 turns. At 11 to 15 degrees Celsius, typical planktotrophic veligers with coiled shells averaging 152 microns long hatch from these egg masses after an embryonic period of 15 - 17 days (Goddard, 1984).
References:
•Goddard, J. H. R. (1981) Range extension and notes on the food, morphology, and color pattern of the dorid nudibranch Hallaxa chani. The Veliger, 24(2): 155-158.
• Goddard, J. H. R. (1984) The opisthobranchs of Cape Arago, Oregon, with notes on their biology and a summary of benthic opisthobranchs known from Oregon. The Veliger, 27(2): 143-163.
• Goddard, J. H. R., T. A. Wayne & K. R. Wayne (1997) Opisthobranch mollusks and the pulmonate limpet Trimusculus reticulatus (Sowerby, 1835) from the outer Washington coast. The Veliger, 40(4): 292-297.
• Goddard, J. H.R. (1998) A summary of the prey of nudibranch molluscs from Cape Arago, Oregon. Opisthobranch Newsletter, 24(2): 11-14.
• Gosliner, T. M. & G. C. Williams (1975) A genus of dorid nudibranch previously unrecorded from the Pacific coast of the Americas, with the description of a new species. The Veliger, 17(4): 396-405.
• Gosliner, T. M. & S. Johnson (1994) Review of the genus Hallaxa (Nudibranchia: Actinocyclidae) with descriptions of nine new species. The Veliger, 37(2): 155-191.
• McDonald, G. R. & J. W. Nybakken (1978) Additional notes on the food of some California nudibranchs with a summary of known food habits of California species. The Veliger, 21(1): 110-119.
• Millen, S. V. (1983) Range extensions of opisthobranchs in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The Veliger, 25(4): 383-386.
• Millen, S. V. (1989) Opisthobranch range extensions in Alaska with the first records of Cuthona viridis (Forbes, 1840) from the Pacific. The Veliger, 32(1): 64-68.
• Nybakken, J. W. & G. R. McDonald (1981) Feeding mechanisms of west American nudibranchs feeding on Bryozoa, Cnidaria and Ascidiacea, with special respect to the radula. Malacologia, 20(2): 439-449.
• Rudman, W. B. (1984) The chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 81(2-3): 115-273.
Goddard, J., 2001 (September 5) Hallaxa chani Gosliner & Williams, 1975. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/hallchan
Related messages
Hallaxa chani from British Columbia
November 12, 2007
From: Paul Sim
Hello Bill.
Any thoughts on this little one's lineage?
Locality: Grouse Island, Johnstone Strait, 40 feet, British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Ocean, 08 October 2007, wall. Length: 1/2". Photographer: Paul Sim.
Thank you
Paul Sim
plsim@shaw.ca
Sim, P.D., 2007 (Nov 12) Hallaxa chani from British Columbia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21107
Dear Paul,
I would normally send this to Dave Behrens but the way the circle of gills is arranged in a goblet shape is characteristic of the genus Hallaxa, and the greyish tips to the rhinophores, and the greyish patches on the mantle, identify this asHallaxa chani . It ranges in colour from a translucent white, which is the colour of all the other photos of it on the Forum, to this translucent yellow colour, which makes it a valuable addition to the Forum.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Hallaxa chani from California
July 31, 2004
From: Bruce Wight
Hi guys,
We went out to San Miguel Island, [Channel Ids, California] over the weekend [July 2004] with the SDUPS. I need help identifying this small juvenile? dorid with a sizable plume.
Thanks
Bruce Wight
bruce.c.wight@boeing.com
Wight, B., 2004 (Jul 31) Hallaxa chani from California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12709
Dear Bruce,
As Bruce comments [#12723], this is Hallaxa chani. I think it is crawling over a bryozoan colony in this photo, but from all existing observations it feeds exclusively on the sponge Halisarca sp.
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
Re: Hallaxa chani from California
July 31, 2004
From: Jeff Goddard
Hi Bruce,
Your unknown dorid [#12709] is definitely Hallaxa chani, owing to its translucent tan color, subcutaneous maculations on either side of the hepatic region, maroon-tipped rhinophores and circle of unipinnate gills.
Please note that this a range extension south from San Luis Obispo County.
Way to go, Bruce!
Best,
Jeff
goddard@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Goddard, J., 2004 (Jul 31) Re: Hallaxa chani from California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12723Thanks Jeff,
Bill Rudman
Hallaxa chani from the northeastern Pacific
September 9, 2001
From: Jeff Goddard
Hi Bill,
Here are some photos and information on the biology of one of my favorite dorid nudibranchs, Hallaxa chani, for the Forum.
The UPPER RIGHT image shows three animals on the underside of of a cobble at North Cove, Cape Arago, Oregon, 31 August 1981 alongside a colony of their food sponge Halisarca. The LOWER LEFT image is of two individuals and their egg masses on the underside of a cobble at the same locality on the 5 March 1986. In the LOWER RIGHT photo, the translucent, almost transparent, nature of the body can be seen. This enhances its ability to be perfectly camouflaged on its food sponge, as the background colour shows through. 31 August 1981. Photos: J. Goddard.
Best wishes,
Jeff Goddard
goddard@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for this information on another of these interesting genus of nudibranchs. I have used your information to make a page for Hallaxa chani.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
