Phyllodesmium iriomotense
Baba, 1991
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Family: Glaucidae
DISTRIBUTION
Originally described from Iriomote Island, which is at the southwestern end of the Ryukyus Archipelago. It is here reported from Okinawa, 400 km to the northeast.
PHOTO
Okinawa, 44mm long, collected from 67m on 18 July, 1995. PHOTO: Bob Bolland.
RELATED TOPIC
Phyllodesmium spp from Okinawa
See Bob's Okinawan Slug Site
Authorship detailsRudman, W.B., 1998 (August 5) Phyllodesmium iriomotense Baba, 1991. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/phylirio
Related messages
Re: Phyllodesmium iriomotense? from the Sulawesi
March 6, 2007
From: Pirjo Pellet
Concerning message #19396:
Hi Bill,
I thought you would be interested by these shots taken in Lembeh Straits October 2006 of this Phyllodesmium found feeding on this species of octocoral. It was at 25m deep on a sandy bottom with some coral rubble. This animal was translucent and totally colorless. I think it is the same species as in Ken's message. I had the same doubts about its ID as he did.
Locality: Lembeh Straits, 25m, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Celebes Sea, 19 October 2006, Sandy bottom with coral rubble. Length: 20 mm. Photographer: Pirjo Pellet.
Best wishes,
Pirjo Pellet
pirjo.pellet@free.fr
Pellet,Pirjo, 2007 (Mar 6) Re: Phyllodesmium iriomotense? from the Sulawesi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19492
Dear Pirjo,
At present, identifications of some of these species is difficult, without a knowledge of their anatomy. In general shape, arrangement of the cerata, and the way the digestive gland duct branches in each ceras, suggests this is P. iriomotense but there is always the possibility this is another unnamed species.
Many species of Phyllodesmium seem to be very specific in their food choices. Your animal seems to be on a cnidarian colony very similar to the one in Bob Bolland's photo [#188]. When I first saw your photo I thought the colony was a hydroid and wondered what a Phyllodesmium, which eats octocorals, was doing on it. However in a closeup of your photo [middle photo] the polyps have 8 branching tentacles [octo= 8], which is characteristic of octocorals. This seems to be another point in favout of identifying it asP. iriomotense.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Phyllodesmium iriomotense? from the Sulawesi
February 17, 2007
From: Ken Tucker
The only photo I've seen of this species is from the Okinawa area, and it seems improbable that Phyllodesmium iriomotense is the correct identification for this photo. However, it is the closest match I've been able to make. With the exception of slight colour variation, there seems to be no noticeable difference.
Locality: Lembeh Strait - T G Kubur, 15 metres, Indonesia, Sulawesi, 27 Nov 2006. Length: 4-5 cm. Photographer: Ken Tucker.
Ken Tucker
ken@kilili.com
Tucker, K., 2007 (Feb 17) Phyllodesmium iriomotense? from the Sulawesi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19396
Dear Ken,
The twisted cerata have some similarity to Phyllodesmium sp. 5 [and Phyll. sp. 6 and Phyll. sp. 8 which are probabably all the same] but in that species the digestive gland duct in each ceras is much thicker and is unbranched.
I agree that your animal is most probably Phyllodesmium iriomotense. Don't be too concerned about the vast distance between where you found your animal and where P. iriomotense is reported from: we still have much to learn about these animals and many species are found from southern Japan to northern Australia and even further afield. So from Okinawa to Sulawesi is not far in the grand scheme of things.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Locality of Phyllodesmium iriomotense
August 5, 1998
From: Bob Bolland
Dear Bill:
Re the current Phyllodesmium iriomotense data on the Sea Slug Forum:
Baba (1991) described the animal from Iriomote Island, which is part of the Ryukyus Archipelago. Iriomote Island is a bit more than 400km SW of the southern tip of Okinawa. The P.iriomotense photo posted to you was from Okinawa Island.
I'm afraid there is much confusion in the literature as to what the word "Okinawa" has reference to; in much of the older literature Okinawa had reference not to Okinawa Island itself, but in many cases other islands in Southern Japan (including Ishigaki, the Kerama Islands, Kume, Iriomote, Yoron, and certainly others).
Sorry about the confusion.
Cheers,
bob
Robert F. Bolland
University of Maryland/ASIA
PSC 80, Box 14149, APO AP 96367
OKINAWA SLUG SITE:
http://www.imicom.or.jp/~bolland/
bolland@imicom.or.jp
Bolland, R.F., 1998 (Aug 5) Locality of Phyllodesmium iriomotense. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/191Thanks Bob, I've amended the distribution information .. Bill.
Phyllodesmium iriomotense
August 4, 1998
From: Bob Bolland
Dear Bill:
I'm enclosing a scan of what I believe to be yet another species of Phyllodesmium for the Okinawa species list, P. iriomotense (Baba, 1991), originally described from Iriomote Island, here within the Ryukyus Archipelago. I've collected three specimens from moderately deep water (two from 58 m and one from 67 m) while on SCUBA. All three of the animals were found apparently feeding on two separate species of octocorals, from which they were collected. The individual in the accompanying photo had a total living length of 44mm and was collected from 67 m on 18 July, 1995.
The sea slug forum continues to be a great service for getting opisthobranch information out over the Internet. Please keep up the terrific work.
Best regards,
bob
Bob Bolland
Okinawa
bolland@imicom.or.jp
Bolland, R.F., 1998 (Aug 4) Phyllodesmium iriomotense. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/188