Tritoniopsilla elegans - egg laying
September 19, 2008
From: Sven Kahlbrock
![](/images/m21564a.jpg)
![](/images/m21564b.jpg)
Hello Bill,
Here is a new species for me which I found during a night dive in El Fanadir / Hurghada, in the Egyptian Red Sea. There were a couple in a soft coral. Is it possible, that they are Tritonia alba?
Locality: El Fanadir Foc / Hurghada, 14 m, Egypt, Red Sea, 25 march 2008, at soft corral. Length: 12 mm. Photographer: Sven Kahlbrock.
Sven Kahlbrock
s_kahlbrock@web.de
Kahlbrock, S., 2008 (Sep 19) Tritoniopsilla elegans - egg laying. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21564![](/images/m21564d.jpg)
Dear Sven,
Thanks for these interesting photos. It is Tritoniopsis elegans. For some years the white form was known as Tritoniopsilla alba, which I guess is where you got the name Tritonia alba. The white spirals in your photos are egg ribbons, almost certainly of this species.
The soft coral in your photos looks very like a species of Dendronephthya, which makes me wonder just what this species usually feeds on. It has been thought that it feeds on the leathery soft coral Lobophyton [Family Alcyoniidae] but we have a number of records on the Forum of it feeding on Dendronephthya . Perhaps earlier records of it on Lobophyton are wrong? Looking at Bernard Picton's message from Hong Kong [#5075 ], the soft coral I tentatively identified there as Lobophyton could well be the neptheid Capnella. This could suggest that Tritoniopsis elegans specialises on soft corals of the Family Neptheidae but clearly a lot more work needs to me done - another thing to add to our 'to do' list.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
A case of Caphira yoodokai eating Tritoniopsis elegans
From: Seiko Kuroe & Akira Mada, July 7, 2007 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Andrea Urban, March 13, 2007 -
Feeding Tritoniopsis elegans
From: Vik Shah, August 17, 2006 -
Can you help Identify this hitchhiker?
From: Jimmy Carmichael, January 13, 2006 -
Unidentified Nudibranch in aquarium
From: David Seibel, December 24, 2004 -
Tritoniopsis elegans from Red Sea
From: Oren Lederman, August 11, 2004 -
Tritonopsis elegans from Kenya
From: Ann Clear, July 19, 2004 -
Re: Tritoniopsis elegans in aquaria [2]
From: Albert Jeffer, March 16, 2004 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquaria
From: Wade Waldman, March 12, 2004 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquaria [2]
From: Albert Jeffers, March 12, 2004 -
Finally found in Queensland
From: Gary Cobb, November 19, 2003 -
Re: Tritoniopis elegans in aquarium
From: Chris Peacock, July 18, 2003 -
Tritoniopis elegans in aquarium
From: Chris Peacock, July 5, 2003 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Ember Barnett, May 30, 2003 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in home aquarium
From: Brian Lindsay , February 28, 2003 -
ID Sea Slug
From: Joe, February 13, 2003 -
Re: Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Marc Daniels, January 25, 2003 -
Are these Tritoniopsis elegans eggs?
From: Onel, January 25, 2003 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Marc Daniels, January 22, 2003 -
Tritoniid in aquarium
From: Mary Middlebrook, January 18, 2003 -
Tritoniopsis elegans - causing aquarium problems
From: Sam Young, November 11, 2002 -
Unexpected Tritoniopsis elegans guests
From: Mark Armstrong, May 31, 2002 -
Tritoniopsilla alba ? from the Philippines
From: Erwin Koehler, April 24, 2002 -
Tritoniopsis elegans and camouflage
From: Nishina Masayoshi, October 18, 2001 -
White nudibranch from Dendronephthya
From: Wyatt Patry , September 26, 2001 -
Another aquarium mystery
From: Christy Falkenberg, September 16, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans - eggs
From: Bernard Picton , August 19, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans feeding
From: Leslie Chan, August 18, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans from Hong Kong
From: Bernard Picton , August 18, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans - hitchhiker
From: Tom O'Toole, July 31, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans from Hong Kong
From: Leslie Chan, July 8, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Donna Pinnock, May 11, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Tracey Bollier, February 9, 2001 -
Tritoniopsis elegans from South Africa
From: Valda Fraser, January 27, 2001 -
Unknown Nudibranch
From: Marc Elig, December 12, 2000 -
Tritoniopsis - another hitchhiker
From: Jim Roth, September 23, 2000 -
Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium
From: Cindy Nichols, January 4, 2000 -
Tritoniopsis from Thailand
From: Erwin Koehler, July 9, 1999 -
Sponge-feeding tritoniid?
From: David & Leanne Atkinson, April 14, 1999 -
Nudibranch in reef tank
From: Eirik Mack Eilertsen, January 4, 1999 -
Re: Nudibranch in reef tank
From: Eirik Mack Eilertsen , January 4, 1999