Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia soft coral

October 17, 2007
From: David Mullins


Dear Bill,
As I am now trawling through all my pics trying to create some sort of order I occasionally find something of interest.

Herewith are 3 pics of Phyllodesmium magnum that would seem to definitely depict it's food source. Gary Cobb and I found it upon this Sinularia soft coral at Old Woman Island and gently prised it off to check, as they really embed themselves making it difficult to observe the feeding process. Revealed beneath is the proof  - an excavated crater.

The upper pic shows the specimen safely returned to habitat 2 weeks later still with most of its cerata.

Locality: Old Woman Island, Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast,, 14 metres, Queensland, Australia., Pacific Ocean., 02 October 2004, Soft coral on rocky reef. Length: 40 mm. Photographer: David Mullins.

I hope this is not "old news" for the forum.

Kind regards,
David Mullins.

david@nudibranch.com.au

Mullins, D.A., 2007 (Oct 17) Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia soft coral. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20948

Dear David,
I did report it feeding on Sinularia some years ago but that doesn't make your observation 'old news'. We know so little about the biology of most nudibranchs that every little bit of information is valuable. Certainly one or two feeding records don't make a third or fourth redundant, as we need multiple sightings before we can form an opinion as to whether a first observation is a true indication of what that species eats or whether it is a mistake, or an anomaly, which can sometimes be the case.

I remember a few things from my school days and one was in chemistry experiments our teacher insisted that we had to repeat our tests until we got three results the same. To us, the last result was more important than the first because that was the one that confirmed our experiment - and let us go home.

There is no scientific rule saying just how many times an animal has to be observed eating the same food before we can say with any authority that that is what it eats, but at the moment I am more than happy to get more observations on any species - and the fifth or sixth observation is just as valuable as the first.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Oct 17). Comment on Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia soft coral by David Mullins. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20948

Factsheet

Phyllodesmium magnum

Related messages

  1. Phyllodesmium from Lembeh, Indonesia
    From: Brian Mayes, March 2, 2009
  2. Phyllodesmium magnum from Nhatrang, Vietnam
    From: Hua Thai Tuyen, June 5, 2008
  3. Re: Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia
    From: Gary Cobb, April 4, 2008
  4. Re: Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia
    From: Gary Cobb, April 4, 2008
  5. Phyllodesmium magnum juveniles
    From: Gary Cobb, April 3, 2008
  6. Re: Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia
    From: Gary Cobb, April 3, 2008
  7. Phyllodesmium magnum - trailing observation
    From: Jean-François Hervé, September 5, 2006
  8. Phyllodesmium magnum pair from the Red Sea
    From: Binyamin Koretz, October 13, 2005
  9. Phyllodesmium magnum from Elat, the Red Sea
    From: Matan Ninio, April 13, 2005
  10. Re: Phyllodesmium magnum from Thailand
    From: Paul Whitehead, January 25, 2004
  11. Re: Phyllodesmium magnum from Thailand
    From: Paul Whitehead, January 23, 2004
  12. Phyllodesmium magnum on Sinularia
    From: Cameron Bee, January 17, 2003
  13. Phyllodesmium magnum from the Marshall Islands
    From: Scott Johnson, September 11, 2002
  14. Unknown reef tank inhabitant
    From: Dean Burchell, July 23, 2002
  15. Reef Tank Hitchhiker
    From: Mike Nolette, May 21, 2002
  16. Phyllodesmium magnum - size?
    From: Valda Fraser, April 10, 2002
  17. Food of orange Phyllodesmium magnum
    From: Leslie Chan, September 11, 2001
  18. An orange Phyllodesmium magnum from Hong Kong
    From: Leslie Chan, September 9, 2001
  19. Phyllodesmium magnum from Queensland
    From: Nigel Holmes, July 10, 2001
  20. Phyllodesmium magnum from South Africa
    From: Valda Fraser, May 26, 2001
  21. Phyllodesmium magnum from Hong Kong
    From: Bernard Picton , March 4, 2001
  22. Phyllodesmium magnum from Japan
    From: Yasuhiro Shirai, November 23, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages