OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK
Phyllodesmium iriomotense Baba, 1991 (40mm)
Opisthobranch of the Week Data
Taxonomy:
- Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
- Suborder: Aeolidacea
- Family: Facelinidae
Frequency on Okinawa:
Collection Data:
- Individual Collection No: RFB #2681-A
- Location: Seragaki, Okinawa (26° 30.4'N, 127° 52.6'E) [both of the collected specimens from Seragaki]
- Date: 16 October, 1991 [16 Oct '91, 18 Jul '95]
- Depth: 195ft (59m) [195ft, 220ft]
- Water temperature at collection depth: Not recorded
- Size: TL 40mm [40mm, 44mm]
- Specimen deposited: California Academy of Sciences
[brackets indicate range for all Okinawa-collected specimens of the species]
Species Account:
Although it's difficult to pick a solitary genus of aeolid nudibranch which is the most attractive, certainly Phyllodesmium species rank quite high as being some of the most beautiful nudibranchs known. The featured Phyllodesmium iriomotense is probably my favorite of the eleven described species of Phyllodesmium found on Okinawa. The eleven species identified to date are:
- P. briareum
- P. crypticum
- P. hyalinum
- P. iriomotense
- P. kabiranum
- P. koehleri
- P. longicirrum
- P. macphersonae
- P. magnum
- P. poindimiei
- P. serratum
Baba (1991) originally described this beautiful animal from Iriomote Island, approximately 400km SW of Okinawa. Baba's animal was collected from 45m and was 20mm (preserved) in length and points out that this is the only member of the genus that is translucent and entirely colorless. The featured animal at this URL was found in an area of mixed sand and strewn coral rubble. It was collected from a small octocoral; I've collected only two specimens as of this writing and each was found on a different species of octocoral.
Literature Cited:
- Baba, Kikutaro. 1991. Taxonomical study on some species of the genus Phyllodesmium from Cape Muroto-misaki, Shikoku, and Okinawa Province, Southern Japan (Nudibranchia: Facelinidae). Venus 50(2): 109-124.
Page Date: 17 Aug '98
Page Modification Date: 15 Sep '08
Digitally manipulated photo
Copyright © 2008 Robert F. Bolland
