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Rudman, 1984
Photo Courtesy of Webmaster
Batangas, Philippines 1992
Last week's outstanding BOW presentation by the Wights and Alan Grant is a hard act follow, but for this week I decided to pickup on the theme Dave Behrens generated in BOW 300 regarding the some 20 different Chromodorididae species that have a white body and some form of yellow or orange border. This was a natural lead in to talk a little about my favorite nudibranch. As the old saying goes, I have never encountered a branch I didn't like, but Ardeadoris egretta certainly stands above the crowd. Years ago when I saw my first specimen, its smooth flowing movement imparted a magic regal bearing to the animal which set it apart from the other branchs seen on the early Philippine trips. This animal would be a natural for the video enthusiasts in size and behavior. Ardeadoris egretta was the hands down pick to be the logo branch for the fledgling Slug Site back in 1995. The success of the these trips was predicated to some degree in my mine as to whether a specimen was sighted during a typical two week trip. The earlier the sighting, the more productive the trip was likely to be! And again, due to its size (50-80mm), it could usually be seen at some distance if the animal was in the area! Nutty isn't it ? Certainly made the trip more fun!
Well, some of you must think the Webmaster went off the deep end, but why not continue the thread and write the Slug Site and talk about your favorite branch or branching spot!
San Diego, Calif
Feb. 2002
Reference
Rudman, W.B. (1990b) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West
Pacific: further species of Glossodoris, Thorunna and the Chromodoris aureomarginata colour
group. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 100(3): 263-326.
