Phestilla sp. 1.
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Tergipedidae
DISTRIBUTION
Tropical Indo-West Pacific
PHOTO
Sunabe, Okinawa, Japan. On flat rock in silty sand, 3m away from reef edge. 13 Novenember, 1999, depth: 17m, length: 25mm. PHOTO: Kazuko Matsuda.
Feeds on the coral Goniopora
Authorship detailsRudman, W.B., 2000 (January 29) Phestilla sp. 1. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/phessp1
Related messages
An unknown nudibranch from Okinawa, Japan
February 1, 2000
From: Kazuko Matsuda
Dear Bill
This is my first message to you. I dive for fun with my friends.
We found a strange nudibranch at Sunabe in Okinawa (main island). It was crawling on a flat rock in a silty sand area, 3m away from reef edge. We don't know how its oral tentacles are. A front part of this animal was covered with ceratal clusters in all photos we took.
Data:
1999/11/13 depth:17m length: 25mm
Could you identfy this animal?
Kazuko
matsu@ii-okinawa.ne.jp
Dear Kazuko,
This is a species of the coral-eating genus Phestilla. It is not uncommon throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific and feeds on the coral Goniopora. I first saw it in Tanzania 30 years ago. One of my New Year promises is to finish a scientific paper on this species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
