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Opisthobranch of the Week Data
Taxonomy:
Janolus sp. 4 is considered to be very rare on Okinawa's main island as I have seen and collected only the above featured individual over a period of many years here. The specimen was collected during a late morning SCUBA excursion while turning over coral rubble. As a large slab of rubble was overturned the animal washed out into the open water (I couldn't determine if the animal was originally on or below the rubble). As it drifted in the water it curled into a tight ball and as it was handled several of the cerata autotomized. I've added a second page with an additional image of the same animal as above.
Janolus sp. 4 would appear to be the same animal as one featured on Mike Miller's Slug Site which was photographed by Steve Drogin of San Diego, California. The photo featured on Mike's site was taken in October 1997 at Kungkungan Bay, which is located on the Lambeh Strait near Manado on the northern tip of Sulawesi in Indonesia.
I've previously featured Janolus toyamensis & Janolus mirabilis as well as eight additional unknown Janolus species on these pages, located at:
J. mirabilis J. toyamensis J. sp. 1 J. sp. 2 J. sp. 3 J. sp. 4 (the above featured animal) J. sp. 5 J. sp. 6 J. sp. 7 J. sp. 8
Literature Cited:
