OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK

Opisthobranch of the Week Data

Taxonomy:

        Haminoea ovalis 1 is considered to be common in the Kerama Islands. I've not personally seen this attractive little haminoeid here in the waters of Okinawa's main island, but Atsushi Ono mentions (pers. comm.) seeing in excess of fifty individuals in the Keramas* and considers this animal to be common there. Atsushi found the above featured animal on seaweed found growing upon dead coral in 18m of water. I've added a second page with several additional images of the Kerama Islands animals, also kindly furnished by Atsushi.

        In addition to Atsushi's images from the Keramas, Jun Imamoto (2004) also has images of specimens from both the Keramas and the Amami-Ooshima Islands.

        I've previously featured on these pages the following members of the genus from Okinawan waters:

Literature Cited:

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