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Goniobranchus tumuliferus
Image courtesy of Mike BartickPhoto taken at Secret Bay Divesite
Anilao, Batangas, Philippines
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Goniobranchus tumuliferus (Collingwood, 1881) What a beautiful creature. Mike Bartick just posted this on Facebook, but there seems to be some disagreement as to its ID. At first I thought it was an undescribed Goniobranchus, but Marli Wakeling corrected me. Thanks Marli. Bill van Antwerp tends to agree with my first thought. Doing a little looking around on this species, the first thing you will note is the variation it displays. One extreme would be the photo in NSSI (1st edition) page 229. Marli suspects this is a juvenile. Mike's specimen matches many of the photos on the Sea Slug Forum which Bill Rudman has been careful to discuss. The bold coloration is spectacular. G. tumuliferus differs from G. kitae, internally and due to the presence of white dots on the rhinophores and gill, in the letter species. The rhinophores and gill of G. tumuliferus pale grey with opaque white apices. Dr. Terry Gosliner of the California Academy of Sciences has confirmed our ID. Terry has indicated that this is the first sighting of this since Mark Prein sent our Webmaster a photo more than 20 years ago.
Sammamish, WA 98074 Jun., 2018 Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
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Mike Bartick is a Marine Wildlife Photographer residing in Anilao, Philippines, with an insatiable love for finding
unique marine life, observing and photographing its behavior and sharing his insight and knowledge
with others. His curiosity and drive for first-hand experience has lead him across the globe in search of
that special critter encounter. Mike is a widely published Photographer, writer and international speaker
with work appearing monthly in international magazines, websites and internet publications. He also
hosts photo clinics and seminars concentrating on the different aspects of Underwater Photography and
the natural history of South East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Mikes Gear- Mike is currently shooting with a Nikon D7100 in a sea and sea housing. He uses Sea and Sea strobes and or INON Z240. Mike also uses the Retra Ultimate Snoot in many of his images to eliminate busy backgrounds and to halite his subject Mike is regarded as an expert in his field and enjoys being in the water as much as possible and agrees that the next best thing to being there, is talking about his experiences. Mike is the Photo-pro for Crystal Blue Resort, Anilao, Philippines. He hosts Photo and natural history workshops each month and is usually underwater. The above photo was taken during Crystal Blue's "CritterHunt" workshop held recently . Bruce Shafer and Mike with Brook Peterson as a guest coordinated the event. This week's subject is an extraordinary find by Mike and company. To quote Mike "...Mantle flapping and vibrant, I was privileged to see this subject as I do with many others because of the sharp eyes of my guides. Nearing the end of a dive, I was urgently called over to see this super slug, a first for both, him and I. At first I thought it to be a slug I had seen there several years ago but once I reviewed the image i realized this was a new slug for me, Imagine that..What an amazing place..." Contact him by e-mail- at saltwaterphoto@live.com for more info or visit the Crystal Blue Resort Website where Mike is the GM. |
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