Oxynoe from the Red Sea

February 23, 2005
From: Dr. Jacob Dafni

Dear Bill,
I was given these two pictures taken by a local diver, and I have not the slightest idea what is it. My best guess is a slug, possibly related to Ceratosoma sinuata (where I saw in your site green and speckled specimens). Yet I am not convinced that it is a mollusc at all. Does it ring a bell for you?

Locality: Dekel Beach, Eilat. Israel, Red Sea. Depth: 7-8 m. Length: ca 5 cm. February 19, 2005. among coral rubble. Photographer: Shmulik Shrenkel.

Jacob Dafni

jdafni@netvision.net.il

Dafni, J., 2005 (Feb 23) Oxynoe from the Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13195

Dear Jacob,
This is a particularly brightly coloured specimen of the sacoglossan 'bubble-shell' Oxynoe viridis. In the close-up, which I have posted alongside my comments it seem to be trying to eat the end of what looks like a bit of coral rubble. Perhaps there are traces of its algal food there. The parapodial flaps have completely enclosed the shell in Shmulik's photos but often in this species quite a bit of the shell is visible. It is colourless, but the brightly coloured mantle can be seen through the shell.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Feb 23). Comment on Oxynoe from the Red Sea by Dr. Jacob Dafni. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13195

Factsheet

Oxynoe viridis

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