Hypselodoris tricolor, on a sponge

July 19, 2006
From: Stephane Ores

Hello Bill !
These two nudis seem to be Hypselodoris tricolor. I think they are feeding on a sponge. But as usually they feed on Dysidea avara, this sponge seems to be Petrosia ficiformis?

Locality: Rade de Villefranche, grotte du semaphore, 20, France, Mediterranean Sea, 12 July 2006, Good visibility. Length: 25 mm. Photographer: Stephane Ores.

thanks & best wishes
Stephane

stephane.ores@neuf.fr

Ores, S., 2006 (Jul 19) Hypselodoris tricolor, on a sponge. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17160

Dear Stephane,
Your animals certainly look like H. tricolor, and as you say the existing evidence suggests they feed on species of Dysidea, like most species of Hypselodoris.  Interestingly there are a couple of records of 'Glossodoris tricolor' feeding on Petrosia (Ledoyer, 1968; Ros, 1975) but later authors have considered that the nudibranchs involved were probably H. orsinii. Not that that resolves the puzzle, because H. orsinii is itself anomalous in feeding on the thorectid sponge Scalarispongia scalaris.

Petrosia ficiformis is in an Order of sponges [Haplosclerida] that chromodorids are not reported to feed on, so my inclination is to say that the slugs are just crawling over this sponge. However the earlier suggestions that it may feed on Petrosia may be a total coincidence, but they suggest to me that it would be worth following up your observation. Certainly if you find this species on a similar sponge in future, it would be worth checking for signs of feeding - gently pick them up and see if the mouth is attached to the sponge or if it has its oral tube partly extended. It would certainly 'break the rules' for it to be feeding on Petrosia, but if it is, then we need to know so we can change 'the rules'.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jul 19). Comment on Hypselodoris tricolor, on a sponge by Stephane Ores. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17160

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