Risbecia ghardaqana - 'trailing' behaviour

March 2, 2003
From: Larry Dupriest

Dear Bill,
These photos are from Summer, mid June 2001
Starting from the shore, the sandy bottom changes to outcrops of dead coral covered with a layer of fine seaweed(?). The depth is a fairly constant 2-3 feet until the reef's edge (dark blue in photo). The reef drops vertically for about 75 feet. The water is crystal clear with bottom details easily visible. It is a wall of live coral varieties and countless species of individual and schooling fish.

These nudi's were found in about 2 feet of water where the sandy bottom meets the darker green water in the photo, about 50 feet from shore.

I observed them for about 15 minutes as they crawled along the bottom, then left them undisturbed. Is this their mating posture or is the one in back just hungry? Also, I don't know the species.

Larry Dupriest

dgdupriest@gtis.net

Note added 8 April 2003: Re-identified as Risbecia pulchella. See message.

Dear Larry,
Firstly I would appreciate some locality data. Is it the same as for Chromodoris quadricolor in your earlier message - 'along the Red Sea shoreline about 100 km north of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia (near the Yanbu Cement Plant)' - although that was summer of 2000?

With a locality your message becomes an important piece of scientific information. Your animal is Risbecia ghardaqana. The 'following' or 'trailing' behaviour is classic behaviour for all species of the chromodorid genus Risbecia. We now have photos on the Forum, of most of the species in the genus doing it. Other chromodorids don't do this so the value or reason for the behaviour is unknown.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Mar 2). Comment on Risbecia ghardaqana - 'trailing' behaviour by Larry Dupriest. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9279

Factsheet

Risbecia pulchella

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