Category: Variations, Exceptions & Abnormalities

VEXATIOUS VARIABILITY – No. 3 Goniobranchus splendidus Goniobranchus splendidus is a common and conspicuous species of nudibranch, though endemic to the east coast of Australia, from southern New South Wales to central Queensland. It exhibits variation in presentation, some of those attributed and limited to specific regions within its range.     Variation exists in

VEXATIOUS VARIABILITY – No. 2 Goniobranchus geometricus Goniobranchus geometricus, to the uninitiated, can appear very much like a phyllidiid nudibranch if the gill is not displayed – all black and white and lumpy. However there are, from time to time, other variations in the mantle appearance that make you take a second look. All though

VEXATIOUS VARIABILITY – No. 1 Hypselodoris jacksoni There are a number of common species of nudibranch that can exhibit a variability of presentation. These differences can sometimes be put down to geographical location but more than often, not necessarily so. At first it can be confusing but once it is realised that the variations belong

Mexichromis pusilla – Verconia varians In No. 2 of this series Mexichromis pusilla (Bergh, 1874) and Verconia varians (Pease,1871) will be discussed. Both species were described back in the 19th century and have gone through a couple of name changes. The original genus for both was Chromodoris. There had been much confusion in the literature

Miamira moloch is a large to very large nudibranch of the Chromdorididae Family. It was first described as Ceratosoma moloch in 1988 by Rudman from two specimens, one collected from Heron Island, Central Queensland and the other from North Stradbroke Island, Southern Queensland. At first glance the specimens in the above montage all appear to

Sometimes when reviewing images post-dive it’s easy to overlook an uncommon species if it has a similar appearance to a species that is frequently sighted. We know the common one well but have forgotten about the rarer one that looks similar – The Lookalike. This NudiNote will discuss a not-so-common species – Verconia decussata (Risbec,1928)

Tenellia sibogae (or Trinchesia sibogae, depending on whose taxonomy you follow) is usually sighted upon its food – arborescent hydroids of the Sertularella genus (usually identified as Sertularella diaphanous or Sertularella quadridens). If you are searching for sea slugs and spot this characteristic looking hydroid it is definitely worth your time to search through it

VIVA VARIATION Change is upsetting    Repetition is tedious.       Three cheers for variation! Mason Cooley Across all of the Sea Slugs there is an almost endless amount of variation. Different shapes, sizes, textures, patterns and colours. We aficionados of the Sea Slugs enjoy all of that variation for it gives us many

THE EXCEPTION TO “THE RULE” Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum is a rarely sighted, though widely distributed, species first recorded from Okinawa by Bob Bolland in 1987. The 15 mm long specimen pictured here was found in the Mooloolah River, southern Queensland, Australia in 3 m of water. It had long been thought that species of Phyllodesmium only