Chelidonura amoena in Malaysia

September 11, 2003
From: Asther M. Lau


Dear Bill,
Please help identify this. My first encounter wth this species was in 2000, Chebeh Is. Tioman, East Coast Malaysia.

It was like a boom! In my 45 mins of dive, I found this species all along the way from depth 10 meter to about 21 meter. Even on one hard brain-coral, you can see near 30 of them covering the whole coral! What phenomenon is this?

Details of this pic:
Site: Terumbu Tiga [Perhentian Islands, Malaysia].
Date: July 11th, 2003
Depth: 14 meter
Size: Between 4cm to 6cm when stretched
Bottom contour: Sandy bottom

Thanx!
Asther M. Lau

diveworldwide@yahoo.com

Lau, A.M., 2003 (Sep 11) Chelidonura amoena in Malaysia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10916

Dear Asther,
This is Chelidonura amoena.

This species seems to undergo these great population explosions at times. [See Todd Garthwaite's messages]. If you have any photos showing them covering a coral that would be interesting. Some popular book used to say that species of Chelidonura fed on coral mucus, because they were often found on large corals, though not in such numbers as you describe. I suspect they cluster on corals because they are hunting the small flatworms which often infest coral colonies. Perhaps if you have photos of large numbers of Chelidonura on corals, you could check for signs of flatworms.
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Sep 11). Comment on Chelidonura amoena in Malaysia by Asther M. Lau. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10916

Factsheet

Chelidonura amoena

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