Hancockia californica from Pacific Grove, California

December 1, 2009
From: John K Yasaki

Concerning message #21337:

Hi, Bill;

Found a large number of these critters on red algae (Palmaria mollis?) off Lovers Point in Pacific Grove, California. I'm attaching several images; feel free to weed out any you find redundant or whatever. Lengths of the animal in these images I would approximate as 3/8 to 3/4 inches.

Locality: Lovers Point; Pacific Grove, 35 to 40 feet, California, USA, Monterey Bay; Pacific Ocean, 31 May 2009, Rocky Reef. Length: 3/8 to 3/4 inch (9 to 19mm). Photographer: John Yasaki.

These photos show a single animal and two that seem to be egg-laying. In a second message [#22516] I have more photos including two showing mating.

jky

jyasaki@chabotcollege.edu

Yasaki, J. K., 2009 (Dec 1) Hancockia californica from Pacific Grove, California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22515

Dear John,

Your photos give us a few more vieiws of the strange 'handlike' cerata these animals have. I presume they are eating hydroids living on the algae. The traces of a white network we can see on the algae are, I guess, the remains of hydroid colonies.

If you look at Sean  Kearney's earlier messages [#12295, #12269] there are some closeup photos of feeding.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Dec 1). Comment on Hancockia californica from Pacific Grove, California by John K Yasaki. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22515

Factsheet

Hancockia californica

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