OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK

Opisthobranch of the Week Data

Taxonomy:

        I've not personally seen Aeolidiopsis ransoni here in the waters of Okinawa's main island, however Atsushi Ono mentions (pers. comm.) that the above featured animal is the only specimen he's seen in the Keramas* and he of course considers the species to be very rare there. Atsushi reports collecting this aeolid from a Palythoa sp. on a shallow rocky reef. See the following Sea Slug Forum articles for images and articles of related interest: Rudman (2002a) for images and a discussion of the colonial cnidarian, Palythoa, and Rudman (2002b) for the biology of Aeolidiopsis ransoni.

        I've added a second page with an additional image of the same animal as above, also kindly furnished by Atsushi.

Literature Cited:

        * Keramas = the Kerama Islands Group, located 30 ~ 40 kilometers west of the Okinawa capitol, Naha.