Rostanga elandsia from South Africa

November 3, 2006
From: Georgina Jones


Concerning message #18127:

Hi again,
I had a closer look at the photo and I think you may be right.. the thing about this particular Rostanga is that it is an extremely good mimic of the red / orange sponges it preys on. I attach three pictures to show you how nicely it blends into the background. Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is undescribed, and is known here only as Rostanga sp.1.

Locality: False Bay, 10-20m, Western Cape, South Africa, False Bay, uncertain, sometime in 2005, red sponges on rocky reef. Length: less than 40 mm. Photographer: Upper & middle Photos 1, 2: Andrew Taylor. Lower Photo: Sharon Albert

Best wishes to you
Georgina

gjones@icon.co.za

Jones, G.J., 2006 (Nov 3) Rostanga elandsia from South Africa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18142

Dear Georgina,

If you look at message #6237 you'll see that Gosliner's Rostanga sp. 1 is now Rostanga elandsia. Species of Rostanga are quite difficult to identify externally, but your animal seems to have the characteristic small black specks which seem to be an identifying feature of that species. We would really need to look at the internal anatomy of your species to be sure.

Many species of Rostanga feed on orange-red sponges and all of them are very similarly coloured and so well camouflaged.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Nov 3). Comment on Rostanga elandsia from South Africa by Georgina Jones. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18142

Factsheet

Rostanga elandsia

Related messages

  1. Re: Rostanga from South Africa
    From: Peter Southwood, November 6, 2006
  2. Re: Rostanga elandsia from South Africa
    From: Georgina Jones, November 3, 2006
  3. Rostanga from South Africa
    From: A. Valdés & T. Gosliner, February 16, 2002

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