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Phyllidiella pustulosa
Image courtesy of Marc Chamberlain
Triton Bay, West Papua, Indonesia
Phyllidiella pustulosa (Cuvier, 1804)
This group includes relatively tough bodied porostomes in which the primary gill is absent and secondary respiratory structures are situated underneath the mantle, in the hyponotum. Species are distinguished by variations in color and the shape and spacing of the notal tubercles. Distinguishing anatomical characteristics between the genera are largely internal. Being a porostome however they do not have a radula and feed by spiting acid on their sponge prey, then slurping up the resulting soup.
Species in the genus Phyllidiella are typically medium sized phyllidiids, with the dorsum covered with simple or compound tubercles, coalesced into groups, or fused into ridges. The oral tentacles are not fused together. Internally, the pharyngeal bulb is covered with a large mass of oral glands.
This very common species is highly variable in color pattern, predominantly black with pink or white tubercles. The tubercles are arranged in small clusters, becoming more separated as the animal grows. We do not see the egg mass very often. As seen here it is a flat ribbon laying on its side.
An interesting relationship, the flatworm Pseudoceros imitates(Bill Rudman's Sea Slug Forum) mimics this nudibranch species. The flatworm derives protection by looking like the nudibranch that stores poisonous sesquiterpene isocyanides that the nudibranchs obtain from their prey and store in their mantle for their own defense. Phyllidiid chemicals are extremely toxic and can kill other organisms kept in aquaria together with the nudibranchs.
Dave Behrens
New Braunfels, TX
Jun., 2024
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
Washington to Texas
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Marc and Michelle Chamberlain reside in the Pacific Northwest in Seattle, Washington where they have lived for the last 15 years. They enjoy cold water diving and take advantage of their location to dive Puget Sound, Hood Canal, the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Peninsula all in Washington as well as multiple locations in British Columbia and southeast Alaska whenever possible. They also travel abroad (pre-pandemic), often combining land and water opportunities as in a trip to New Zealand, where they did extensive bird watching and hiking in addition to diving the Poor Knight's Islands (which I am going to put on my places to visit list).
Marc has a Nikon D500 in a Subal housing with 2 YS-D2 strobes and diffusers in addition to a variety of lenses. Marc in his time in San Diego was SDUPS Photographer of the Year so many times that I lost count! In fact, Marc came to mind many summers ago during a trip on the Catalina Express from Dana Point. Due to a loading snafu, the bag containing my camcorders was stowed down below and therefore unavailable during the hop over to Catalina. Well, you guessed it!, a Blue Whale breeched about 50 feet off the boat and hung around for about 10 minutes for everyone onboard to get a shot. That is with the exception of yours truly! During the remainder of the voyage the only thought that came to mind was "if Marc has been onboard he would have been ready." That folks is the difference between those who dream and those who actually do it!
Send Marc email at marccchamberlain@gmail.com |
