Author: Quoy & Gaimard, 1824

Order: Nudibranchia  Family: Scyllaeidae

Maximum Size: 50 mm

Sightings: Sunshine Coast

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Scyllaea fulva Quoy & Gaimard, 1824

Previously known on this site as Scyllaea pelagica Linnaeus, 1758 (Changed 21/03/2023)

Scyllaea pelagica had long been regarded as a single circumtropical species however, Pola et al, 2012, have shown through molecular sequencing that Atlantic and Indo-Pacific specimens are separate species. Scyllaea fulva is the oldest name for Indo-Pacific specimens and therefore the valid choice.

David A. Mullins – March 2023

References:
– Pola, M., Camacho-Garcia, Y. E. & Gosliner, T. M. (2012). Molecular data illuminate cryptic nudibranch species: the evolution of the Scyllaeidae (Nudibranchia: Dendronotina) with a revision of Notobryon. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 165: 311–336.

– Gosliner, T. M., Valdés, Á., and Behrens, D. W. (2018). Nudibranch & Sea Slug Identification: Indo-Pacific – 2nd Ed. New World Publications: Jacksonville, FL.