24. Some Fijian Nudibranchs (and a Platyhelminth)

Reticulidia halgerda Fiji PGS 2015 3This post is photographic, fruits of a recent trip to Fiji. All the photos were taken in Bligh Waters, and all had some added light. Many of the animals were spotted, at a considerable distance, by Jesse of the Wananavu dive boat. The captions describe the photo above in each case. This is Reticulidia halgerda.

Goniobranchus (?) Fiji 2015 2b cmpI think this is Goniobranchus, perhaps G. geometricus in a different color form from those seen round Sydney.

Platy Thysanozoon nigropapillosum Fiji PGSThysanozoon nigropapillosum. This one’s a Platyhelminth, from an entirely different phylum. Nudibranchs are molluscs.

Chromodoris lochi Fiji PGS 2015 2 cmpChromodoris lochiA beautiful species.

Phyllidia elegans PGS Fiji 2015 cmpPhyllidia elegansI think, though we can’t see all of its important parts, and there are lots of Phyllidia species.

Phyllidiella pustulosa PGS Fiji 2015 cmp2The unfortunately named Phyllidiella pustulosa. (“Thanks so much, Cuvier.”) The head is at the upper right.*

Phyllidiella sp Fiji 2015 PGS cmAnother Phyllidiella species, I think, though this is a tricky group. (Identifications and corrections are welcome.)

Lastly, a shot above the coral in Bligh Waters.

Diving Wananavu_5941-2 cmp2

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Notes

* An inadvertent synonym (in the biologist’s sense of “synonym”) of “Phyllidiella pustulosa” is the very different “Phyllidiella nobilis” – as if the taxonomists were trying, belatedly, to make it up to the nudibranchs.  But pustulosa had priority, and nobilis has been rejected.

Last week our observations at Octopolis were covered in the New York Times and National Geographic. Both stories featured this fight video.

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