Gymnodoris ceylonica from Mozambique

April 9, 2008
From: Valda Fraser

Dear Bill
Not an acceptable view at all - Gymnodoris ceylonica with it's butt in the air! What could it possibly be doing?

Locality: Pomene, 1 m, Mozambique, Indian Ocean, 18 February 2008, Pool . Length: 25 mm. Photographer: Valda Fraser.

Regards
Valda Fraser

valdafraser@mweb.co.za

Fraser, V.J., 2008 (Apr 9) Gymnodoris ceylonica from Mozambique. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21500

Dear Valda,

By complete coincidence I am posting a message today from Toh Chay Joon [#21507] showing Gymnodoris rubropapulosa in a similar pose - but horizontal not vertical. I suspect your animal is in pursuit of a prey animal, or may have it in its mouth, trying to prevent its escape. When I was a student in New Zealand I used to wonder why I often found the aglajid Melanochlamys cylindrica sitting just like your animal, with its head buried deep in coralline turf, oblivious to the fact that the tide had left it uncovered on an intertidal rock platform. It was only later, when I discovered they fed on free-living polychaete worms, that I realised the reason they were head down - or butt up as you would have it - because they had a worm in their mouth which was trying to escape down a crevice, and neither prey nor predator would give up.

If you see such an event in future, you have my permission to slightly disturb the balance of nature and have a little poke around to see what they are after. We have two observations on the Forum of this species eating Stylocheilus striatus so it would be nice to know if that was their only prey.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Apr 9). Comment on Gymnodoris ceylonica from Mozambique by Valda Fraser. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21500

Factsheet

Gymnodoris ceylonica

Related messages

  1. Gymnodoris ceylonica and its eggs
    From: Alain Bonnet, February 25, 2006
  2. Gymnodoris ceylonica eating Stylocheilus
    From: Alain Bonnet, February 25, 2006
  3. Re: Aggregation of Stylocheilus striatus [2]
    From: Paul Whitehead, January 23, 2006
  4. Gymnodoris ceylonica from Reunion Island
    From: Philibert Bidgrain, February 14, 2005
  5. Gymnodoris ceylonica from the Red Sea
    From: Michael Mrutzek, July 3, 2003
  6. Gymnodoris ceylonica from French Polynesia
    From: Christophe Naslain, November 11, 2002
  7. Juvenile Gymnodoris ceylonica from Bali
    From: Stuart Hutchison, March 20, 2002
  8. Gymnodoris ceylonica from French Polynesia
    From: Daniel Geiger, October 15, 2001
  9. Gymnodoris ceylonica from Papua New Guinea
    From: Stuart Hutchison, June 14, 2001
  10. Gymnodoris ceylonica from Tonga
    From: Don Barclay, May 27, 2001
  11. Gymnodoris ceylonica from Solomon Ids
    From: Bruce Potter, December 22, 2000
  12. Re: Fused Rhinopores
    From: Wayne Ellis, September 16, 1999
  13. Re: Feeding & Breeding in Gymnodoris ceylonica
    From: Scott Johnson, September 15, 1999
  14. Mating in Gymnodoris ceylonica
    From: Scott Johnson, September 15, 1999
  15. Eggs of Gymnodoris ceylonica
    From: Julie Marshall, September 14, 1999
  16. Feeding & breeding in Gymnodoris ceylonica
    From: Scott Johnson, September 9, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages