Phyllidia flava feeding

April 11, 2007
From: Dominique Horst


Hello,

The last sea slug I've met at lunch time, Phyllidia flava eating a sponge that should be Reniera?

Locality: Cap d'Antibes, 15m, France, Mediterranean sea, 17 March 2007. Length: 25mm. Photographer: Dominique Horst.

Kind regards,
Dominique

dominique.horst@wanadoo.fr

Horst, D., 2007 (Apr 11) Phyllidia flava feeding. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19807

Dear Dominique,
This is a nice sequence of feeding photos. Species of Phyllidia lack radular teeth so they have to turn their food into a 'soup' by exuding digestive juices out of the mouth on to their food so they can soften it and suck it in. I think in the photo alongside you can see, near the slug's mouth, the fibre and spicule network of the sponge skeleton. This suggests that the outer layers of the sponge are being dissolved and sucked in.

I am in New Zealand at the moment so I can't check the sponge identity. Perhaps someone can help us?

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Apr 11). Comment on Phyllidia flava feeding by Dominique Horst. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19807

Factsheet

Phyllidia flava

Related messages

  1. Gills of Phyllidia flava
    From: Marcel Tanke, October 16, 2009
  2. Re: Phyllidia flava in defensive mode
    From: Dominique Horst, May 8, 2009
  3. Re: Armina maculata or Phyllidia flava
    From: Dominique Horst, June 1, 2006
  4. Armina maculata or Phyllidia flava
    From: Dominique Horst, May 31, 2006
  5. Phyllidia flava from Greece
    From: Vasilis Athanasopoulos, November 22, 2005
  6. Phyllidia flava from Turkey
    From: Ferda Buyukbaykal, January 24, 2003
  7. Re: Phyllidia flava diet inTurkey
    From: Jean Vacelet, December 7, 2001
  8. Food of Phyllidia flava?
    From: Baki Yokes, November 3, 2001
  9. Phyllidia flava feeding
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 20, 2000
  10. Unknown nudibranch from south of France
    From: Christian Desprez, June 16, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages