2026 · Photo: Boaz Liebes
Phestilla sibogae
Porites-eating nudibranch
Philippines · Indo Pacific - South China Sea
- Size
- 20–30 mm · max 40 mm
- Native range
- Indo-West Pacific, described from Indonesia; well known from Hawaii.
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Description
A Porites-eating aeolid best known as a laboratory model for larval settlement and metamorphosis. It feeds mainly at night and hides among coral branches by day; several individuals often share one colony and follow each other's slime trails.
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/species/phestilla-sibogae-phillipines-indo-pacific-south-china-sea/
Identification
Milky-white to translucent body, appearing brownish or olive-green from the digestive gland; numerous long cerata in crowded oblique rows with white to yellow tips. Smooth rhinophores. Very well camouflaged on Porites.
Similar species
Long confused with Phestilla lugubris, from which it is separated by genetics, larval development and radular teeth; P. minor is much smaller.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Among branches of Porites colonies on shallow reefs.
Food
Stony corals of the genus Porites, located by chemical cues.
