Nembrotha mullineri
Gosliner & Behrens, 1997
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Polyceridae
Subfamily: Nembrothinae
DISTRIBUTION
Known only from the Philippines at present.
PHOTO
Philippines, Negros Oriental Is., April 1994, depth unknown, size about 5 cm. PHOTO: Fred H.-H. Harms.
Characterised by the cream coloured body with brown spots, patches and longitudinal bands. the fills and rhinophores are also dark brown. It differs from other species of Nembrotha in having a non-denticulate concave-edged blade on the central tooth. One specimen was also found on an arborescent bryozoan, which is unusual for a genus which normally feeds on ascidians.
Reference:
• Gosliner, T.M. & Behrens, D.W. (1997) description of four new species of phanerobranch dorids from the Indo-Pacific, with a redescription of Gymnodoris aurita (Gould, 1852). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 49(9): 287-308.
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (July 21) Nembrotha mullineri Gosliner & Behrens, 1997. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/nembmull
Related messages
Nembrotha mullineri from the Philippines
April 25, 2007
From: Colin Teo
Hi Bill,
thought you might be interested in this Nembrotha mullineri as the creature seems interested in the clear, blue speckled, ascidians in front of it.
Locality: Malapascua, 15m, Philippines, 21 Febuary 2007. Length: 10cm. Photographer: Colin Teo.
Colin Teo
colin_teo@yahoo.com
Teo, Colin, 2007 (Apr 25) Nembrotha mullineri from the Philippines. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19695Thanks Colin,
Bill Rudman
Nembrotha mullineri from Papua New Guinea
February 5, 2007
From: Chris Crowley
Dear Bill,
I am looking for ID on this nudibranch.
Locality: Deka Deka, 15 meters, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, Pacific, 16 March 2006, Sandy bottom. Length: 10 cm. Photographer: Chris Crowley.
Chris Crowley
chris.crowley@hughes.net
Crowley, C.J., 2007 (Feb 5) Nembrotha mullineri from Papua New Guinea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19345
Dear Chris,
This is Nembrotha mullineri. It is interesting to see the commensal shrimps. I am pretty sure they are Periclimenes imperator, a species usually associated with Hexabranchus sanguineus, but also found at times on a variety of large dorid nudibranchs and pleurobranchs.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Food of Nembrotha mullineri
June 19, 2002
From: Anne Owen
Bill,
Thanks for the ID. I don't have another picture of the slug on the ascidian, but here is a separate photo of the kind of thing it was feeding on. Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Anne Owen
AnneOwen2000@aol.com
Owen, A., 2002 (Jun 19) Food of Nembrotha mullineri. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7274Dear Anne,
This photo certainly does help. Now I can see the ascidian in your earlier photo. It should be possible to identify this stalked colony. It has similarities to one identified by Gosliner, Behrens & Williams (1996: Fig 1068) as Oxycorynia fascicularis Drasche, 1882 and report that it is the food of Nembrotha lineolata and N. chamberlaini. As far as I can determine this is the first information we have on the food of N. mullineri.
• Gosliner, T.M., Behrens, D.W. & Williams, G.C. (1996) Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific. 314pp. Monterey, California: Sea Challengers.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Nembrotha mullineri from Indonesia
June 13, 2002
From: Anne Owen
I have just visited your website for the first time, following a recommendation from Scott Michael - it's great and I'm pleased to have found you!
Could you help ID this nudi please. It was found at about 30-40 feet inshore in Horseshoe Bay, Rinja, Komodo National Park, May, 2002. Not a good image as it was wrapped around a colonial ascidian and I declined to disturb it. Looks much like Nembrotha, but interesting deep red instead of more normal green
Hope you can help.
Anne Owen
AnneOwen2000@aol.com
Owen, A., 2002 (Jun 13) Nembrotha mullineri from Indonesia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7202Dear Anne,
This is indeed a species of Nembrotha, in this case Nembrotha mullineri. By co-incidence we have just had a number of messages showing the considerable colour variation in this species. I guess if it was wrapped around a colonial ascidian, as you report, it was eating it. Species of Nembrotha feed on specific ascidians. If you have a look at the page on the green Nembrotha milleri you will find quite a few photos of it feeding on ascidians. However there is some doubt about the food of this species and I am not sure from your photo just what it is on. Have you a photo which shows the 'ascidian' more clearly? Even it is not a good photo of the slug, it would be interesting to be able to identify what it is on.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
Erwin Köhler's N. mullineri
June 11, 2002
From: Nishina Masayoshi
Dear Bill,
Nembrotha lineolata, N.livingstonei, N.rutilans and N. mullineri are all similar for me. I thought the one of distinctive external feature is the white patch between the rhinophores. Especially N.livingstonei and N. mullineri are similar. But N. livingstonei has the cross shaped patch between the rhinophores. Is this a sure way to identification?
Erwin Köhler's N. mullineri from Negros, Philippines, looks almost like N. mullineri but has no patch. So the animal may be something unusual type as N. mullineri or looks something special for me. I've never seen such a dark N. mullineri before.
The attached photos are both photographed at Kungkungan Bay in the Lembeh Straits of Indonesia.
• N.livingstonei [upper]
21 Nov, 2001, Length: 30mm
• N. mullineri [lower]
21 Nov, 2001, Length: 40mm
Photos by N. Chikako
Best Regards,
Nishina Masayoshi
nishina@wips.co.jp
Masayoshi, N., 2002 (Jun 11) Erwin Köhler's N. mullineri. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7160Dear Nishina,
Thanks for these photos. I have added some more from Erwin today which help clarify the variation in N. mullineri. I must admit that the species you mention are a bit confusing and I am afraid there is not a lot of variation in internal anatomy between species, so I suspect that in the end we will need to have a much better understanding of how colour patterns vary within the group than we do know before we can talk sensibly about how many species there are. Photos like yours and Erwin's therefore are very valuable.
best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Re: Nembrotha mullineri mating (2)
June 11, 2002
From: Erwin Köhler
Dear Bill,
Following my last message, here are 2 more colour variants of (what I think to be Nembrotha mullineri) from the Philippines, both by Georg Heinze,
Email Georg.Heinze@t-online.de
Data:
UPPER: 4cm, 11m depth, May 2001, Philippines, Negros Oriental Island, Lipayo, divesite "Pier"
LOWER: 6cm, 11m depth, May 2001, Philippines, Malapascua Island,
divesite "Gato Cave"
Erwin Köhler
Erwin@medslugs.de
Köhler, E., 2002 (Jun 11) Re: Nembrotha mullineri mating (2). [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7176Thanks Erwin,
Bill Rudman
Re: Nembrotha mullineri mating (1)
June 11, 2002
From: Erwin Köhler
Dear Bill,
In answer to your comments to my last message, here are 3 more colour variants of (what I think to be Nembrotha mullineri) from one dive at the Philippines, Negros Oriental Island, Lipayo, divesite "Pier", 03 March 2001 (same dive as the one with the mating pair). I think with the shots I sent with a separate message they show an almost pure brown variant (which looks like a wrong colored Nembrotha milleri), a variant with very dark cream spots and some variants with brighter cream spots.
Data:
Upper Right: 64mm, 15m depth
Lower Left: 66mm, 14m depth
Lower Right: 58mm, 16m depth
Erwin
Erwin@medslugs.de
Thanks Erwin,
Your range of photos certainly are a useful addition to our knowledge of the species
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Nembrotha mullineri mating
June 3, 2002
From: Erwin Köhler
Dear Bill,
Here is a shot of 2 Nembrotha mullineri mating.
Data: Philippines, Negros Oriental Island, Lipayo, Divesite "Pier", depth 16m, size 5-6cm, Date: 03 March 2002.
Erwin
Erwin@medslugs.de
Köhler, E., 2002 (Jun 3) Nembrotha mullineri mating. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6856Thanks Erwin,
I would be interested in comments about the identity of these animals. I have no personal knowledge of this species, but the animals in this photo look rather different from those already on the Forum
Cheers
Bill Rudman
Re: Nembrotha mullineri from Cairns
July 23, 1999
From: Wayne Ellis
Morning Bill,
Spoke with Tas last night. The photo of Nembrotha mullineri is definitely from off Cairns, north Queensland. This means N. mullineri and Hoplodoris estrelyado have now been sighted in East Australian waters. (See Australasian Nudibranch NEWS #10 Page 2 for further details).
Regards
Wayne
glaskin@ozemail.com.au
Ellis, W., 1999 (Jul 23) Re: Nembrotha mullineri from Cairns. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1101Nembrotha mullineri from Cairns?
July 22, 1999
From: Wayne Ellis
Hi Bill,
Attached is an image of Nembrotha mullineri from Tassie Weinreich in Cairns. (See anNEWS #10) There is some suspicion this species may actually be from Western Australia. Tas photographed it at an aquarium I understand and the actual source of the beast is a mystery at this point.
Wayne.
glaskin@ozemail.com.au
Ellis, W., 1999 (Jul 22) Nembrotha mullineri from Cairns?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1095Thanks Wayne,
Localities are a bit of a problem with aquarium animals. It would be nice to know where it actually came from. However it is a good dorsal photo.
Bill Rudman.
Nembrotha mullineri from Philippines
July 21, 1999
From: Erwin Koehler
Bill,
attached 1 photo Fred H.-H. Harms, Hamburg, Germany - made in the Philippines, Negros Oriental Is., April 1994, depth unknown, size
about 5 cm. Any idea?
Erwin
Medslugs.Koehler@t-online.de
Koehler, E., 1999 (Jul 21) Nembrotha mullineri from Philippines. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1084Thanks Erwin,
I'm pretty sure this is Nembrotha mullineri which was recently described from the Philippines. Nembrotha mullineri is the only known species of the genus to have a colour pattern consisting of only a cream background and brown patching or lines.
Bill Rudman.
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Jul 21). Comment on Nembrotha mullineri from Philippines by Erwin Koehler. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1084