Goniobranchus setoensis

Image courtesy of David Cowdery
Photo taken at Anilao, Batangas, Philippines
March 2018
Nikon D800 with DS160 substrobes

Goniobranchus setoensis (Baba, 1938)

As mentioned in last week's BOW members of the genus Goniobranchus are distinct from other chromodorid genera in that their egg coil is laid on edge, not flat against the substrate.

This species was named by Dr. Kikutaro Baba to recognize the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory operated by Kyoto University in Japan (-ensis denotes - "from" seto). Dr. Baba did much of his research their publishing 100's of papers and naming almost as many new species. His favorite journal near the end of his life was Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory. To honor this great malacologist, Terry Gosliner and I named Hypselodoris babai Gosliner & Behrens 2000 (Courtesy of Bill Rudman's Sea Slug Forum), and more recently Angel Valdes named Philine babai Valdes, 2008.

This species is often confused with Goniobranchus decorus (Courtesy of Bill Rudman's Sea Slug Forum) which is virtually identical with the exception that the white lines are very fine and lack the associated purple spots of G. decorus.

As we mention in Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs Identification, additional work is needed to determine whether these two species are distinct of simply color variations.

Dave Behrens
Sammamish, WA 98074
Aug., 2018
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com


David Cowdery

Dave Cowdery is a retired bio-medical Engineer and is the inventor of the Alumina/Titanium hermetic feedthrough (1970) for implantable bionics and the first to introduce a Titanium casing. This invention created the first bionic implant (pacemaker) with a service life that could be measured in years rather than months and is the basis for todays huge multi billion dollar bionic industry.

David is a Divemaster with over 5,500 dives experience and is based near Byron Bay in Australia. David is also a keen competitive road bicycle rider covering over 400 km most weeks. Photographic equipment used Nikon D800 camera with DS160 substrobes.

Send Dave mail at divec@ozemail.com.au



From left to right, Terry Gosliner, Angel Valdes, Dave Behrens La Jolla, Calif.

Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com

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