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Image courtesy of Lawrence Neal
Andaman Sea of Western Thailand
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Image courtesy of Lawrence Neal Andaman Sea of Western Thailand  |
Cerberilla sp.7 (in NSSI 2nd Edition) This is another one of 12 undescribed Cerberilla's presented in NSSI 2nd Edition (page 339). While Lawrence's specimen is paler in color than Carole Harris's pinkish specimen in NSSI, they are unmistakably the same. Note the yellow pigment on the tips of the cerata and rhinophores, on the head tentacles and foot corners and the tip of the tail. Lawrence noted that the specimens were crawling quite fast across the sandy bottom among numerous Philinopsis speciosa (Courtesy of Bill Rudman's Sea Slug Forum) and Armina sp. He speculated that their speed might indicate that they were hunting fast prey. I sort of doubt this as Cerberilla characteristically prey on Cerianthid, burrowing anemones, which don't move at all. "...They were moving pretty rapidly, along with many Philinopsis speciosa and small Armina sp. I'm curious as to why the Armina were moving about so rapidly and continuously. If I didn't know otherwise, I would have said they were hunting for something that can move. Also there were no sea pens in the area that I saw. Armina that I have seen in the past were much bigger, much slower, and definitely feeding on sea pens..." |
Thanks for noting this Lawrence.
We now have this species from the United Arab Emirates and the Andaman Sea of Western Thailand.
Dave Behrens
Sammamish, WA 98074
Feb., 2021
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
Lawrence at Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia with
Agung Volcano in background
Lawrence Neal is a newspaper journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. He escapes the office as often as he can to go diving in the rich waters of the Indo-Pacific but his regular dive sites are just down the road at Pattaya. The vis is usually pretty appalling and the diversity nothing like as rich as hotspots like Lembeh or Anilao, but, in his words, "that's what makes it challenging and fun".
Lawrence uses a Nikon D850 with 105 mm Nikkor lens ISO 64, 1/250 sec., f20, 2 X Backscatter Mini Flash MF-1 strobes.
Lawrence Neal
Send Lawrence mail at lorenzo_n@yahoo.com |
Attention all you Sluggers, and you know who you are! The NSSI 2nd edition is now available in ebook PDF and book form . The hard back version will become available Nov. 1st. Both will cost $65 (individually). You will need to jump through a few hoops to get the electronic version as pdf distribution is protected by Adobe ID!! Please read the following to enable reading your electronic purchase! This new 2nd Edition is updated and reorganized, including 185 new species. Among other features, the new edition includes additional photographs of species, an identification key, and an up-to-date classification reflecting the latest evolutionary relationships. The Indo-Pacific represents the largest expanse of tropical ocean in the world, stretching from the Indian Ocean coast of southern Africa and the Red Sea to the central Pacific of the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island and the Marquesas. This region supports the most diverse marine fauna of any place in the world for most groups of marine organisms. The nudibranchs and sea slugs are no exception to this rule; there are about 3,000 described species of these organisms in the world and at least 40% of these have been found exclusively in the Indo-Pacific tropics. This book illustrates 2,138 Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs, including many undescribed species.
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