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Melibe engeli
Images courtesy of Lindsay WarrenFound in shallow water on algae by Graham Abbott in the Komodos area, circa 2013
Wainilu, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park
Wainilu, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park
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Melibe engeli , Risbec, 1937 At first glance one might think that the image above was Melibe colemani but its occurrence on algae rather than the soft coral Xenia, proved us wrong. Like colemani, its body is transparent, revealing internal organelle. The cerata have numerous elongated papillae and fimbriate appendages on the species. This species can be found on the algae, Padina and Acanthophora on reef flats, throughout the Indo-Pacific The image at left is thought to be a color variation of Melibe engeli and was also found in algae! |
Wainilu, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park
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Melibe colemani Wainilu, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park |
WEBMASTER'S NOTES:
This finding goes back to 2013 when I signed up for the second half of Graham Abbott's Critters Trip to Komodos and South Rinca in September for the express purpose of seeing M. colmani and lo and behold the unthinkable happened. Graham actually found it! The conditions were so abysmal at this site that after the first dive with no success, most of the other divers opted to go to another spot for their second dive. Lindsey Warren and myself persisted and went in again with Graham. Vizability was about 15 feet or less! This time we hit gold with Graham finding not only M. colemani but another Melibe in algae that was also featured in BOW (814) .
The Webmaster would like to thank Lindsay for making her images available, without which this BOW would never have been possible!
Send Lindsay email at lwarren@datonomy.co.uk
Dave Behrens
Jun., 2024
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
Washington to Texas
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