Semper's
armina nudibranch
Armina semperi
Family
Arminidae
updated
May 2020
Where
seen? This
slug in pajamas is sometimes seen on our Northern shores, burrowing in
sandy areas near seagrasses where there are sea
pens. It is more active at night.
Features: 2-6cm long. Body long,
narrow with narrow black-and-white stripes (which are actually ridges).
The blue foot has a yellow or orange border. The wedge-shaped flap
over its mouth (oral veil) is also blue with a yellow or orange border.
The oral veil has no bumps on it. Rhinophores with yellow or red tips
and fine black stripes. According to Bill
Rudman, the coloured wiggly lines seen on the underside of the
body are not gills although gas exchange may take place. These act
like the cerata of aeolids, a place where the digestive gland can
expand. These lines often are the same colour of their sea pen food. |
Changi, May 14
|
Colourful
oral veil without bumps.
Changi, Jun
06 |
Underside.
Changi, Oct 07 |
Gills
under the mantle skirt.
Chek Jawa,
Jun 05 |
Sometimes mistaken for the bumpy-faced
armina nudibranch, that has a plain oral veil and foot and has
bumps on its 'face'. The Tiny striped
nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) is also striped but is
much smaller.
What does it eat? As a group,
the armina nudibranchs eat soft
corals and sea
pens. Bill
Rudman has a post sharing how an armina nudibranch feeds on a
sea pen and is dragged down into the sand when the sea pen retracts. |
Semper's
armina nudibranch on Singapore shores |
Other sightings on Singapore shores |
|
|
Changi, Oct 20
Photo shared by Marcus Ng on facebook. |
Pulau Sekudu, May 12
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook. |
Beting Bronok,
Jul 07
Photo
shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his
blog. |
|
Links
References
- Tan Siong
Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary
Checklist of The Molluscs of Singapore (pdf), Raffles
Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore.
- Debelius,
Helmut, 2001. Nudibranchs
and Sea Snails: Indo-Pacific Field Guide
IKAN-Unterwasserachiv, Frankfurt. 321 pp.
- Coleman,
Neville. 2001. 1001
Nudibranchs: Catalogue of Indo-Pacific Sea Slugs. Neville
Coleman's Underwater Geographic Pty Ltd, Australia.144pp.
- Humann, Paul
and Ned Deloach. 2010. Reef
Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific New World Publications.
497pp.
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