Ceratosoma trilobatum from Eilat

April 2, 2003
From: Michael Levin


Hello Bill,
I enjoy to visit your wonderful web site, keep on with the good job.

I hope you would be interested in these photos of Ceratosoma tenue Something interesting about this nudibranch is that it moves very fast on the sandy bottom and it quite huge (about 15cm).

Locality: North beach of Eilat, northen part of Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba), Red Sea.
Depth: 15m
Date: Feb 2003
Size: 150mm

Michael Levin

michael@scubadiving.com

Levin, M., 2003 (Apr 2) Ceratosoma trilobatum from Eilat. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9507

Dear Michael,
Thanks for these photos of Ceratosoma trilobatum. C. tenue tends to be more elongate and has a secondary lobe on each side between the head and the gills. This is quite an interesting colour form in which the dorsal 'horn' with its red spots is quite a different colour to the rest of the body.

Most species of Ceratosoma have a long recurved dorsal 'horn' which acts as a defensive lure attracting potential predators to the part of the animal which contains most of the distasteful chemicals stored from their food. See Ceratosoma brevicaudatum for photos of its conspicuously marked 'tail', especially in juveniles. This colour 'target' probably also attracts potential predators to the most distasteful part of the animal (Rudman, 1991). See photo of Ceratosoma tenue from Dar es Salaam, in which whole dorsal horn has been cut off, probably bitten off.

• Rudman, W.B. (1991) Purpose in Pattern: The evolution of colour in chromodorid nudibranchs. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 57 (T.E.Thompson Memorial Issue): 5-21.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Apr 2). Comment on Ceratosoma trilobatum from Eilat by Michael Levin. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9507

Factsheet

Ceratosoma trilobatum

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