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Project Noah Nature School
Elysia ornata
E. ornata's body is a translucent leaf-green in color with speckles of white and black. The parapodial margin is black with a yellow or orange submarginal band. The green rhinophores are usually black-tipped, but can also have orange bands. It is also known as Ornate Leaf Slug. They feed on green algae (Bryopsis sp.), and reaches a length of 5cm.
Found in shallow patches of sand and rubble areas. This is a circumtropical species.
Spotted this attractive sea slug at a depth of less than 10m, off the coast of Paradise Island Beach Resort, Samal Island, Philippines. When it was crawling on the sand, it measured roughly 5cm long. It seems to me that this individual is atypical of E. ornata: (1) the rhinophores are tipped with orange, not black; (2) the white on its parapodia aren't spots but are more like smudges.
Spotted on Feb 28, 2012
Submitted on Jul 22, 2012
10 Comments
Thank you for checking and don´t worry, I may imagine. And yes, I imagine its movements and I tend to believe all animals sort of move graciously underwater, at least I like it. =)
Wow, it looks like a bracket fungi in the first picture.
@patty - It does move very gracefully underwater.
(Sorry, couldn't find the video...)
that would be great Blogie! I guess this slug must probably sort of dance in the water =)
Thanks very much, Patty! I think I have a video of this somewhere.... If I find it, I'll update this spotting with the video. :)
Interesting sea slug and lovely series of pictures Blogie. All the pictures are nice; however the first one and third one sort of allow the viewer to sense the slug´s movement in a way, beautiful! (plus, the colors are amazing and give an extra charm. Love them! ) =)
Hi Lukas. They're fairly common here, although I don't see them very often.
Awesome is this a common species?
Haha! I like that :)
Cool! A kiwi sea slug :D