Tenellia sp. 4 (NSSI 2nd Ed)

Wow - Gordon is on a roll this month. Look at this beauty. At first, we called this Tenellia ornata (Baba, 1937) but closer examination suggests Tenellia sp. 4, page 284 of NSSI, due to the orange rhinophores and cephala tentacles. There is also an orange "Y"-shaped marking (not seen in Gordon's photo) on the head between them.

NSSI contains about a dozen species of similar coloration with blue and yellow bands on the cerata, but you need to look closely. In Tenellia sp. 4 most of the length of the cerata is granular light blue, followed by the dark blue subapical band and yellow apex, tipped in white.

At this time this undescribed species is known only from Indonesia.

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