Phyllodesmium briareum

Phyllodesmium briareum

''Phyllodesmium briareum'' is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.
Phyllodesmium Nudibranch This Nudibranch has a lot of cerata making it difficult to see which end is the head or tail. In this picture, it is seen laying eggs, the tiny white spots are its eggs. Geotagged,Philippines,Phyllodesmium briareum,Spring

Appearance

''Phyllodesmium briareum'' uses camouflage and looks like the soft coral ''Briareum violacea'' with which it is often found. It grows to 25 mm in length. This species contains zooxanthellae but has cerata of conventional aeolid shape.
Phyllodesmium briareum Fall,Geotagged,Indonesia,Phyllodesmium briareum

Distribution

The distribution of ''Phyllodesmium briareum'' includes Indo-Pacific and Australia.Rudman, W.B., 1999 [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
Phyllodesmium briareum These are nudis, even though they look like crazy wigs! Mark's photo. Cabilao, Philippines. Fall,Geotagged,Philippines,Phyllodesmium briareum

Habitat

''Phyllodesmium briareum'' is reported to feed on a number of species of briareid soft coral including ''Solenopodium stelleri'' and ''Briareum stecheri'' . It is also reported from ''Pachyclavularia violacea''.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionMollusca
ClassGastropoda
OrderNudibranchia
FamilyMyrrhinidae
GenusPhyllodesmium
SpeciesP. briareum
Photographed in
Indonesia
Philippines