2026 · Photo: Boaz Liebes
Phyllodesmium pinnatum
Philippines · Indo Pacific - South China Sea
- Size
- 15–30 mm
- Native range
- Western Pacific: the Philippines (type locality Maricaban Island, Batangas), with photo records from Indonesia.
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Description
A solar-powered aeolid described from the Philippines in 2009, which harbours symbiotic zooxanthellae and is an exceptionally close visual mimic of the octocoral it lives on. Its name means 'feather-like', after the shape of its cerata.
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/species/phyllodesmium-pinnatum-phillipines-indo-pacific-south-china-sea/
Identification
Translucent white body covered with minute white speckles. Long beige cerata are feather-like (pinnate), with projections along their margins that imitate the branches of the host soft coral. Rhinophores smooth and elongate, translucent with white markings.
Similar species
The feather-like, fringed cerata distinguish it from other Phyllodesmium; P. koehleri has club-shaped cerata covered in spiky tubercles.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Coral reefs, on its soft-coral host.
Food
Octocorals (soft corals); like other Phyllodesmium it obtains its zooxanthellae from its prey.