Selection: Scyllaea fulva

Scyllaea fulva Quoy & Gaimard, 1824

Click the thumbnail photos to enhance!

Scyllaea fulva is characterized by a yellowish-tan colour with brown mottling, and some white markings, and by large flattened rhinophore sheaths which dwarf the small rhinophores. There are two pairs of dorso-lateral lobes, which have a jagged edge. The posterior end of the body has a flattened medio-dorsal crest which also stands vertically. There are fine dendritic gills over the inner surface of the dorso-lateral lobes and the dorsum. In some specimens are a few bright blue spots. On the sides of the body are small conical tubercles, of whitish or translucent-tan colour.
Scyllaea fulva lives fulvally attached to pieces of floating kelp or Sargassum weed, or other floating algae, where it feeds on attached hydroids.
This species was posted at these websites on 28 January 2012 as Scyllaea pelagica Linnaeus, 1758 which was thought to be a circumtropical species. Let me quote the abstract of Pola et al. (2012):"Scyllaea pelagica has been regarded as a single, circumtropical species. Our molecular studies clearly indicate that the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific populations are distinct and we resurrect Scyllaea fulva Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 for the Indo-Pacific species."
Reference:
Pola M., Camacho-Garcia Y.E. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Molecular data illuminate cryptic nudibranch species: the evolution of the Scyllaeidae (Nudibranchia: Dendronotina) with a revision of Notobryon.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 165: 311–336., available online at doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00816.x
More information on Scyllaea fulva as Scyllaea pelagica are on Bill Rudman's Sea-Slug Forum!
How to cite:
Köhler, E. (2017), published 18 January 2017, Scyllaea fulva Quoy & Gaimard, 1824
available from https://www.Philippine-Sea-Slugs.com/Nudibranchia/Cladobranchia/Scyllaea_fulva.htm