OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK
Goniodoridella savigngi (Pruvot-Fol, 1933) 10mm
Opisthobranch of the Week Data
Taxonomy:
- Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
- Suborder: Doridina
- Family: Okeniidae
Frequency on Okinawa:
Collection Data:
- Individual Collection No: RFB #3145-A
- Location: Tengan Pier (26o24.0'N, 127o51.1'E) [Horseshoe
Cliffs, Seragaki]
- Date: 20 March, 1993 [19 Feb 93, 20 Mar 93, 8 Mar 95, 22 Mar 97, 29 Mar 97]
- Depth: 40ft (12.2m) [25ft, 30ft, 40ft, 40ft, 40ft]
- Water temperature at collection depth: 65.1oF (18.4oC)
- Size: TL 10mm [3mm, 5mm, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm, 11mm]
- Specimen deposited: RFB Personal Research Collection (different individuals
of the species deposited at Cal Acad Sci)
[brackets indicate range for all Okinawa-collected specimens of the species]
Species Account:
Goniodoridella savigngi is considered to be rare on Okinawa as I have seen and collected a total of 10 individuals from 5 separate dives (the 19 Feb 93 collection is composed of 5 individuals, but only 1 was measured {7mm}; the 22 Mar 97 collection is made up of 2 individuals {8mm & 11mm}) over a period of more than twenty years of diving here.
The 8 animals from the Tengan Pier area were collected from perhaps the same identical physical site, i.e., from a discarded metal superstructure composed of angle iron, covered with dense growths of small feathery hydroid colonies. The two specimens from
Horseshoe were collected from a vertical rock wall covered with red algae and miscellaneous poriferans, bryozoans, and cnidarians.
Copyright © 1999 Robert F. Bolland
Digitally manipulated photo
