Phyllodesmium tuberculatum
Warty soft coral eater
Philippines · Indo Pacific - South China Sea
- Size
- 8–14 mm
- Depth
- 0–17 m
- Native range
- Western Pacific: described from Batangas, Luzon, Philippines; also photographed in Romblon.
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Description
A small solar-powered aeolid that lives on coral and rubble near its prey, the xeniid soft coral Anthelia, and keeps large numbers of symbiotic zooxanthellae in the larger cerata. Named for the round, warty nodules on its cerata.
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Identification
Bluish grey all over. The large cerata, covering most of the back, bear conspicuous, rounded, raised nodules concentrated along their edges and ends; small cerata along the sides are smooth and pointed. Rhinophores smooth, conical and blunt, about as long as the oral tentacles.
Similar species
Phyllodesmium koehleri has translucent white, club-shaped cerata with sharp, spiky tubercles. Other tuberculate species (P. crypticum, P. hyalinum, P. lembehense) lack the highly raised spherical nodules over the whole of the large cerata.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Coral reefs and rubble near Anthelia colonies; 0–17 m.
Food
Xeniid soft corals of the genus Anthelia.