Leminda millecra showing its all!

February 6, 2007
From: Charles Rowe

Hi Bill,
I just thought I might send this photo as it shows everything in one shot. Rhinophores, mouth piece and reproductive organ are all easily visible.

Locality: Shyshark Reef, Port Elizabeth, 14 matres, South Africa, Indian ocean, 23 December 2006, On a sandy patch just off the reef.. Photographer: Charles Rowe.

Charles Rowe

bumff@mweb.co.za

Rowe, C., 2007 (Feb 6) Leminda millecra showing its all!. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19114

Dear Charles,
Thanks for this great photo. It s certainly interesting how the head / oral tube extends out so far. Apart from the structures you mentioned your photo also shows the anus opening on the right side towards the back of the body. The purplish branching material we can see through the skin, is the branching digestive gland, which in molluscs, functions not only as the liver - as it is often mistakenly called - but as a place where digestive enzymes are produced and food particles are absorbed and broken down. It is a multifunctional organ. In an earlier message [#11245] I suggested that the  purple clumps of contracted soft coral in your photos were the food of Leminda. In this photo, what I assune are the same soft corals are fully extended, and certainly their colour matches the colour of the slug's digestive gland. This species is reported to eat the soft coral Alcyonium fauri [message #8164]. I wouldn't mind betting that the soft coral in your photos is a purple form of that species.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Feb 6). Comment on Leminda millecra showing its all! by Charles Rowe. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19114

Factsheet

Leminda millecra

Related messages

  1. Re: Leminda millecra from South Africa
    From: Wilhelm van Zyl, November 15, 2006
  2. Leminda millecra from South Africa
    From: Georgina Jones, November 6, 2006
  3. Leminda millecra - feeding record
    From: Charles Rowe, October 16, 2003
  4. Leminda millecra from South Africa
    From: Valda Fraser, February 5, 2003
  5. Food of Leminda millecra
    From: Bill Rudman, October 14, 2002
  6. Leminda millecra from South Africa (1)
    From: Lindsay Warren, October 1, 2002
  7. Leminda millecra from South Africa (2)
    From: Lindsay Warren, October 1, 2002

Show factsheet and all related messages