Re: Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea

February 4, 2008
From: Binyamin Koretz

Concerning message #21348:

Dear Bill,

Glad to hear you're getting over your illness.

We've seen the same small pleurobranch here in Eilat (at the northern tip of the Red Sea, for those unfamiliar). I can't find where we recorded the size but 3 cm sounds about right.

We didn't think it was a juvenile P. grandis because we've seen P. grandis as small as 5 cm and they looked exactly the same as the adults, only in miniature. Also this one is lacking the polygonal etching around the tubercles. The same can be said for the small P. mamillatus or small P. forskalii we've observed - they're all like miniature adults.

We saw it only once a couple of years ago, and at a site where P. grandis, incidentally, is not uncommon, so if it's not P. grandis perhaps they share a food preference.

Locality: Eilat, Caves, 3 m, Israel, Red Sea (Gulf of Eilat), February 2006, corals. Length: ca. 3 cm. Photographer: Binyamin and Shulamit Koretz.

Best regards
Binyamin

binyamin@koretz.net

Koretz, B., 2008 (Feb 4) Re: Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21359

Dear Binyamin,

Thanks very much for the further information. I could be quite wrong, but it seems a number of pleurobranchs do start as purple spotted and I am pretty sure the one I photographed in an earlier message [#13705] is P. grandis. That is not to say your Red Sea animal is different.

If it is distinct then I suspect ther is an early name from Polynesia for it - Pleurobranchus tessellatus - which Pease described with an illustration by Andrew Garrett in 1868. I have copied the image alongside [Plate 9, figure 4 - Pease, 1868]

It's a bit hard when this 'species' or 'colour form' only turns up occasionally, because we would need to examine is anatomy to see if it was mature, and'or anatomically different from other species. At present I will leave it with P. grandis, not because I disagree with your doubts, but because I think it will be easier to find here. If anyone has photos of similar animals they would be very welcome

  • Pease, W.H. (1868) Descriptions of marine Gasteropodae inhabiting Polynesia. American Journal of Conchology. 4 (2): 71-80

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Feb 4). Comment on Re: Pleurobranchus from Hurghada, Red Sea by Binyamin Koretz. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21359

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