Favorinus eating Hexabranchus eggs

September 5, 2003
From: Yves Coze

Dear Bill,
While diving in Reunion Island, Indian Ocean, we spotted these Hexabranchus sanguineus eggs on a rock. These were quite common in the place where we were.

While watching closely to the egg ribon, we noticed pinkish kind of larvae on the base of the ribbon. Unfortunately the picture we have are quite poor. These "things" were moving a little bit. Could they be spanish Dancer's larvae? In addition, it seems that the ribbon was not "full" some eggs seemed to be gone and the the ribbon was rather dark.
Yves Coze

info@rando-reunion.Com

Coze, Y., 2003 (Sep 5) Favorinus eating Hexabranchus eggs. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10871

Dear Yves,
The larvae of Hexabranchus hatch out of the egg masses and swim away in the plankton. These little animals are another aspect of nature at work. They are nudibranchs which specialise on feeding on the eggs of other opisthobranchs. Although a bit fuzzy, I am sure they are aeolids of the genus Favorinus, and probably Favorinus japonicus. Have a look at my comments on Rokus Groeneveld's earlier report from the Red Sea.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Sep 5). Comment on Favorinus eating Hexabranchus eggs by Yves Coze. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10871

Related messages

  1. Favorinus japonicus from Reunion Island
    From: Hugues Flodrops, March 31, 2009
  2. Favorinus japonicus on Hexabranchus eggs
    From: Colin Ogden, September 25, 2007
  3. More photos of Favorinus japonicus
    From: Dong Bum Koh, May 10, 2005
  4. Favorinus japonicus and F. tsuruganus together
    From: Dong Bum Koh, May 3, 2005
  5. Re: Favorinus eating Hexabranchus eggs
    From: Yves Coze, December 1, 2003
  6. Favorinus? from Zushi, Japan
    From: Akira Kurabayashi, November 16, 2003
  7. Favorinus on Hexabranchus eggs
    From: Rokus Groeneveld, July 12, 2003
  8. Re: Favorinus japonicus secondary metabolites
    From: Jennifer Sneed, March 8, 2002
  9. Favorinus japonicus secondary metabolites
    From: Jennifer Sneed, March 6, 2002
  10. Favorinus japonicus from Heron Island
    From: Julie Marshall, March 5, 2000
  11. Favorinus japonicus from Sulawesi
    From: Lindsay Warren, February 27, 2000
  12. Egg Predation - Favorinus japonicus
    From: Bill Rudman, April 25, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages