Flabellina cf. sp. 6 (in NSSI 2nd Ed)

This gorgeous photo blew us away, but in spite of all its attributes, identifying the species was not easy. At first, we thought it was a Tenellia, but Brancher Buddy Terry Gosliner suggested a Flabellina. In fact, he suggests Flabellina sp. 6. Could well be. Let's see.

The body is variably colored, usually white, with similarly colored oral tentacles. The rhinophores are smooth, red with white apically. The ceratal color matches the body with a subapical band and white tip.

If I had to guess, I'd say this is a variation of Flabellina sp. 6 with slight color differences and dark ceratal cores. This is certainly not out of the question, but the geographic distributions bother me. The NSSI animal is from Okinawa (Japan) while Gordon's photo is from Ambon, Indonesia. Hummm. Little things like this make identification frustrating and fun.

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