Dear Brian,

You may be right in identfiying these animals as T. darvellie but I have been keeping them separate as Trapania sp. 9 because of the orange rather than brown colouration, because the lateral processes are usually held out rather horizontally and because the cloured tips of the processes seem to be 'knobbly' perhaps glandular [see discussion in message #16182.] Your seem to be almost an intermediate.

Concerning their food. If you do a search for entoproct or Kamptozoa on the Forum you will find a whole list of messages reporting, or showing that entoprocts are the preferred food of species of Trapania. Species of Trapania are often found on sponges and we used to think they fed on sponges - although nothing in their radular tooth structure or the food of their close relations would would suggest sponges were a likely food. Have a look at the Fact Sheet for Kamptozoa [= ectoproct] for some background information. Some species are usually found living on sponges - hence the confusion.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Vie,
Identifying animals from photos is a bit like writing with your writing arm tied behind your back. In this case it would be very valuable to know what the radular teeth looked like. One problem is we only know Trapania darvelli from a few records so I am not sure whether this orange brown colour is part of the colour variation of that species or even if it is because of an over exposed photo. What struck me as different were the glandular looking lumps on the tips of the latero-dorsal processes and how much longer the processes seem to be. I could be wrong so any more records of these animals would be welcome.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Alvin,
Yes this is a species of Trapania, but unless my memory is failing me it hasn't got a name. I'll call it Trapania sp. 9. The latero-dorsal processes are rather interesting. The brownish tips seem to contain spherules - perhaps glands?
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman