Plocamopherus ceylonicus
Hairy leopard nudibranch
Philippines · Indo Pacific - South China Sea
- Size
- 15–25 mm
- Native range
- Indo-West Pacific, from East Africa and Sri Lanka (type locality) to Japan, Australia, the Marshall Islands and Hawaii.
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Description
A polycerid dorid notable for bioluminescence: the knobs on the papillae beside the gills flash light when the animal is disturbed. Plocamopherus is one of the very few sea-slug genera that produce their own light.
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/species/plocamopherus-ceylonicus-phillipines-indo-pacific-south-china-sea/
Identification
Translucent yellowish body with brown patches and speckling and orange-yellow spots around the foot and mantle edge. The front of the head has branched processes; the papillae flanking the gills end in large rounded, often pinkish knobs. The foot tapers into a long tail.
Similar species
Plocamopherus maculapodium is reddish brown with dark spots on the foot and a white line along the mantle edge and back. P. tilesii is larger with different colouring.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Coral and rocky reefs, rubble and sheltered shallow water.
Food
Like other Plocamopherus, bryozoans.