Ceratosoma brevicaudatum

Ceratosoma brevicaudatum, the short-tailed ceratosoma, is a species of colourful dorid nudibranch, a sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.

Short-tailed ceratosoma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Doridina
Superfamily: Doridoidea
Family: Chromodorididae
Genus: Ceratosoma
Species:
C. brevicaudatum
Binomial name
Ceratosoma brevicaudatum
Abraham, 1876[1]

Distribution

Houtman Abrolhos, Western Australia, across South Australia and Victoria to Cape Byron, New South Wales, and around Tasmania.[2]

Description

This firm-bodied species grows to a maximum recorded length of 15 centimetres. Within South Australian waters, dark coloured individuals are more common in the west and paler colours more so in the east. An orange form is considered typical in SA.[3][4]

Ecology

The species feeds on Euryspongia spp. sponges.[3]

  • Ceratosoma brevicaudatum
  • Yellow variation of Ceratosoma brevicaudatum at Fly Point, Port Stephens, New South Wales
  • Ceratosoma brevicaudatum
  • Ceratosoma brevicaudatum

References
  1. Abraham P.S. (1876) Notes on some genera of nudibranchiate Mollusca, with notices of a new genus and some hitherto undescribed species, in the collection of the British Museum. Annals & Magazine of Natural History (4)18: 132-146, pls. 6-7, pages 142-143, Plate VII, Figure 6
  2. Edgar, Graham J. (2008). Australian Marine Life: The plants and animals of temperate waters (Second ed.). Sydney: New Holland. ISBN 9781921517174.
  3. Gowlett-Holmes, Karen (2008). A field guide to the marine invertebrates of South Australia. Sandy Bay, Tasmania: Notomares. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-9804854-0-0.
  4. Rudman, W.B., 1998 (October 14) Ceratosoma brevicaudatum Abraham, 1876. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
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