Persian carpet flatworm, Bedford's flatworm

Description:

The size of P. bedfordi ranges from 8-10 centimeters. These flatworms are very delicate creatures, having thin ribbon-like elongated or oval-shaped bodies approximately a millimeter thick with a thicker midline. They have a very flat and smooth dorsal surface and are only a few millimeters thick. The Persian carpet flatworms are often mistaken for a nudibranch due to their bright colors, but the flatworms are flatter and move quicker. The body has rich patterns of stripes in black, brown and rose pink with tiny white dots. The stripes curve from the center of the body to the sides and the edge of the body is black with white dots, usually highly ruffled. The ruffled edges are used for swimming. Prominent pseudotentacles are formed by simple folds of the anterior margin. Different from nudibranchs, they do not have external gills or lungs, instead they can exchange gas across their entire body surface, through diffusion. A slightly ruffled pharynx is located in the anterior one-third of the body and the mouth is a large opening located at the anterior end of the pharynx. The sucker is conspicuous and centrally located. The ventral surface is a light pink and when "penis fencing" they protrude the double pronged stylet from the ventral surface. They have two male pores and one female pore, however, the female pore is not the point of insertion for insemination because insemination can take place on any part of the surface of the flatworm. Source: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/ac...

Habitat:

Coral rubble and ledges in back reefs, coastal bays, and in lagoons.

Notes:

Rather small at about 3.8 cm. Unfortunately wasn't able to get more focused snaps. Night dive at a depth of about 6 m. Halo Anilao Dive resort house reef, Batangas, Philippines