Psedoceros laingensis

Pseudoceros laingensis

''Pseudoceros laingensis '' is a marine flatworm species that belongs to the Pseudocerotidae family.
Flatworm - Pseudoceros laingensis The Pseudoceros laingensis Flatworm species is the one on the right; white/cream coloured with purple spots.

The other 2 are Pseudoceros lindae Flatworms.

This picture was taken at Chocolate Island, Philippines to illustrate the richness of this particular dive site of many Flatworms but it seems they can be seasonal.  There have been times when I dive at the same dive site and hardly see any Flatworms but in this particular trip, they were all over the place. Flatworm,Geotagged,Malapascua,Philippines,Psedoceros laingensis,Pseudoceros laingensis,Spring,cebu

Appearance

"External anatomy: Cream background with widely spaced scattered purple spots. Each spot is formed by microdots, denser in the middle with fine dots outwards. The ventral side is cream. Pseudotentacles are formed by simple folds of the anterior margin with small scattered pseudotentacular eyes on the margin. A horseshoe shaped cerebral cluster with about 100 eyespots. A big and wide pharynx formed by elaborated folds.
Internal anatomy: The male system is formed by branched vas deferens, a rounded oblong seminal vesicle connected to a long and coiled ejaculatory duct, a large oval prostatic vesicle and a long pointed, and narrow cuticular stylet housed in a deep and voluminous antrum. The female antrum is deep and wide with a narrow and short vagina surrounded by the cement glands."

Naming

Flatworm of Laing : this name comes from the place it had been described the first time in Laing Island in Papua New Guinea.

Distribution

Central Tropical Indo-Pacific, from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea.

Behavior

Benthic, diurnals, because of its aposematic colors, it has no fear to crawl around to feed.

Habitat

External slope or top of coral reefs.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionPlatyhelminthes
ClassRhabditophora
OrderPolycladida
FamilyPseudocerotidae
GenusPseudoceros
SpeciesP. laingensis
Photographed in
Philippines