Chromodoris leopardus & Hypselodoris bollandi

June 28, 2005
From: Sergey Parinov

Dear Bill,
These are three Chromodoris leopardus and one Hypselodoris bollandi. I found them during night dive near Lankayan island at sandy bottom close to the jetty ~7 meters deep.

Locality: Lankayan island, north east off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Sulu Sea. Depth: 7 meters. Length: 3-5 cm. April 2003. sandy bottom. Photographer: Sergey Parinov

Do you know why these two species are together?

Sergey Parinov

webmaster@sergeyphoto.com

Parinov, S., 2005 (Jun 28) Chromodoris leopardus & Hypselodoris bollandi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14137

Dear Sergey,
The only reason I can think of to explain them being together, other than chance, is that they feed on the same species of sponge, which is perhaps hidden beneath them. My first move when seeing something like this would be to give the animals a gentle nudge to see if there was something interesting happening out of sight. While food sponge colonies are often larger than the nudibranchs, at times animals will be found feeding on small, recently settled, sponge colonies much smaller than themselves.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jun 28). Comment on Chromodoris leopardus & Hypselodoris bollandi by Sergey Parinov. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14137

Related messages

  1. Chromodoris leopardus - feeding
    From: Edward Dixon, April 30, 2007
  2. Chromodoris leopardus from Indonesia
    From: Marli Wakeling, August 20, 2005
  3. Chromodoris leopardus from Sipadan
    From: Sergey Parinov, June 28, 2005
  4. Chromodoris leopardus from Malaysia
    From: Asther M. Lau, September 10, 2003
  5. Chromodoris leopardus from Indonesia
    From: Sabine Noack, December 2, 2002
  6. Chromodoris leopardus from Bali
    From: Stuart Hutchison, February 18, 2002
  7. Chromodoris leopardus from the Philippines
    From: Mary Jane Adams , May 30, 2001
  8. Chromodoris leopardus from Solomon Ids
    From: Bruce Potter, May 23, 2001
  9. Chromodoris leopardus from NW Australia
    From: Clay Bryce, May 5, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages