An unknown nudibranch from Okinawa, Japan

February 1, 2000
From: Kazuko Matsuda

Dear Bill

This is my first message to you. I dive for fun with my friends.

We found a strange nudibranch at Sunabe in Okinawa (main island). It was crawling on a flat rock in a silty sand area, 3m away from reef edge. We don't know how its oral tentacles are. A front part of this animal was covered with ceratal clusters in all photos we took.

Data:
1999/11/13 depth:17m length: 25mm

Could you identfy this animal?

Kazuko

matsu@ii-okinawa.ne.jp

Matsuda, K., 2000 (Feb 1) An unknown nudibranch from Okinawa, Japan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1813

Dear Kazuko,
This is a species of the coral-eating genus Phestilla. It is not uncommon throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific and feeds on the coral Goniopora. I first saw it in Tanzania 30 years ago. One of my New Year promises is to finish a scientific paper on this species.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Feb 1). Comment on An unknown nudibranch from Okinawa, Japan by Kazuko Matsuda. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1813

Factsheet

Phestilla sp. 1.