This beauty belongs to the family Aeolidiidae J. E. Gray 1827. Members feed on sea anemones and have numerous cerata as seen here in Gordon' specimen.

NSSI 2nd ed explains that "Many species sequester unicellular plant-like dinoflagellates (called zooxanthellae) from their prey. Zooxanthellae are common symbionts of cnidarians that are ingested by the aeolid while feeding on anemones. Instead of being digested with the cnidarian tissue, they are transported to specialized branches of the digestive gland. The zooxanthellae are maintained alive in the aeolid tissue and photosynthetic products are utilized by the aeolid for its own nutrition. Species with zooxanthellae are usually recognizable by having brown reticulations in the body wall."

Baeolidia moebii is characterized by the spots on the cerata and the circles on the head between the rhinophores and head tentacles.

It is one of the larger Aeolidiidae reaching 70 mm in length and feeds on the anemones Aiptasia sp. and Boloceroides sp.

My diving career started in the cold lakes of northern Wisconsin during summer camp in 1964. I have now logged over 3000 dives. My passion for this hobby/sport kicked into high gear around 2006 when I got my first underwater camera and went to Taveuni, Fiji. It was a Canon SD 550 point and shoot. Certainly limited for wide angle, but it took amazing pictures of Nudibranchs! It ignited an obsession for underwater photography and nudi hunting that has taken me to all the corners of the Coral Triangle.

I retired and moved to the Philippines in 2008 to avoid those long international flights and have been blessed to be here for the last 14 years. I chose the island of Negros Oriental for many reasons, but mostly for the easy access to great macro/critter photography. Also being the frogfish capital was the bonus round. And the 600 plus species of nudibranchs that call it home. Being in the center of the best diving on planet earth is a dream come true.

So, as they say " I'm living the life".

Webmaster's Notes:

Gordon certainly has a knack for locating and photographing one of the most difficult sea slug species (Stiliger) to find.
A prevous Stilger submission by Gordon which morphed into a BOW was posted as Stiliger sp.5. Interesting enough, Stiliger sp. 5 was also photographed at Romblon, Philippines!
Let's see, what is my travel agent's number?

Send Gordon email at gtillen@mac.com