Thursday, April 02, 2009

Updates On Okenia Nudibranch.....


I have sent a message on the sighting of the Okenia nudibranch (with 5 gills) during The Hantu Bloggers 5th Anniversay dive to Dr Bill of The Sea Slug Forum for advice.

Dr Bill replied that it is almost certainly that the nudibranch in the above photo is Okenia purpurata.

After reading Dr Bill's reply, I have realised that I had made a mistake (which I have already corrected) in my last post about the Okenia nudibranch stating that the forum said that Okenia purpurata is Australia endemic. Which, of course now is not as per Dr Bill's reply.

And also with our discovery of this nudibranch from Singapore, it now suggests a wider Indo-West Pacific range distribution of this critter. And the possible reason for it to end up in Singapore is that this species, like some other species of Okenia, is a 'tramp' species travelling the world on the bottom of boats in association with its food bryozoan. Ahhhh.....now that's not a surprise considering that we have so many ships visiting Singapore port each day.

And so the ID for the Okenia with 5 gills is solved. The mystery remains for the one with 3 gills.

1 Comments:

Blogger peizee said...

so prettttyyyy!

April 02, 2009 9:19 PM  

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