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Coral Beach - Moses Rock · 27/1/2017 · Photo: Boaz Liebes
Identification uncertain: this may be a form of Phyllidia undula, recorded at the same site — see article.
Ocellate phyllidia
Israel · Red Sea - Gulf of Aqaba
The type species of Phyllidia and one of the most familiar phyllidiids on Indo-West Pacific reefs, including the Red Sea. It is highly variable in pattern; like other phyllidiids it feeds on sponges and is chemically defended.
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Gold-yellow to orange back with typically four to ten black rings, each bordered with white and enclosing a central gold or white tubercle. In many individuals the black expands or meanders across the back and the white may be missing. Rhinophores yellow.
Phyllidia flava is similarly yellow but has no black; P. varicosa, P. tula and P. coelestis have yellow-capped tubercles but blue-grey pigment.
Coral and rocky reefs, recorded from about 7 to 23 m.
Sponges.
