What is it?

[Coolibabes]

This is a picture of it about a year ago...
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn13/BooleyMan/IMG_9456.jpg

Took a picture recently of what I'm assuming is the same creature ..It has grown heaps and is approximately 8-10cm in length and 5-7cm wide. It only comes out after lights out. See pic below

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn13/BooleyMan/IMG_0899.jpg

Is this a Chiton or maybe an Abalone??

[rssjsb]

This is downright weird.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1740659

[charlesr1958]

A Scutus spp. ?

Chuck

[Speckled Grouper]

That is very interesting. Same type of creature and I just got some Australian corals in. I wonder if it came from your neck of the woods Coolibabes?

[Bongo Shrimp]

If it does not have a shell, it's a flat worm and you should get it out. If it has a shell, try to get another pic, could be an abalone or chiton but I'm thinking it's a flatworm.

[pagojoe]

That's a very cool animal. I'm not sure it's the same as the one in the first pic, but it might be. On it's own, I'd have guessed the first pic to either be a Gold Ringer Cowry, Cypraea annulus, or one of the brownish Scutus variants (as others have guessed). But, with the clear pic of the larger animal, it might not have been. Since I can't see a hint of an external gill or rhinophores typical of nudibranchs, I'm going to go with Bongo that it's a large polyclad flatworm. There are many cases of flatworms that seem to mimic toxic nudibranchs, some of which are shown here:

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/Introduction06.html

Yours isn't listed on that page, but it looks very much like the nudibranch Platydoris scabra:

http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall/platscab

I'll stand by and see if any of the worm and nudi experts on here agree.

Cheers,



Don

[Coolibabes]

Thank you all for your input! MUCH APPRECIATED!:beer:
If it does not have a shell, it's a flat worm and you should get it out. If it has a shell, try to get another pic, could be an abalone or chiton but I'm thinking it's a flatworm.

Touching the top middle section of the body, it feels quite hard like a hidden shell of some sort. I attempted to remove it in order to take a pic of its underside, but it sticks like super glue and is near impossible to remove it from the glass without possibly injuring it.

[pagojoe]

Well, since it feels hard, that pretty much eliminates the flatworm option. Platydoris scabra is rather hard, but I really don't think that's what it is for the reasons mentioned aboved. I'll suppose I'll change my guess to Scutus. Could you see any of a white or brownish shell when you touched its back?



Don

[Bongo Shrimp]

I'm starting to think it is some sort of chiton or other snail. Some snails and relatives have flaps of tissue that run over its shell. I'll do a little more digging...

[Coolibabes]

Could you see any of a white or brownish shell when you touched its back?
Pagojoe, I couldn't see anything, just felt like a shell underneath the tissue. The 'shell' is about the size of the dark, reddish patch in middle of its back in the 2nd pic above.

I'll do a little more digging...

Thanks Bongo Shrimp. Much appreciated!

[pagojoe]

Hmm, that's kind of small for a Scutus that large, if its shell is the size of the reddish patch. There aren't a whole lot of choices. It's definitely not a chiton. There are only a handful of molluscan options, and most can be eliminated because of characteristics that are missing. See the line straight down the dorsum on the first pic? That's typical of molluscs that have a mantle which meets in the middle, and shows part of the shell when the mantle edges are retracted a bit to either side. Cowries do this, but they can and will withdraw the mantle completely when you touch them. Most of the time when you can see a white longitudinal line on the dorsum, it's a Scutus. I've just never seen one so ornate. If it were mine, I'd touch it with two fingers, one on each side of the shell, and see if I could separate the mantle. You should be able to do this gently without harming the animal. If there is no mantle break, then the animal in the lower pic is a diffrerent species than the one in the top pic. I'd bet it's going to be Scutus unguis or Scutus sinensis, though, and that you'll be able to see part of the shell.

Interesting animal. Cheers again,




Don

[Elysia]

Australia certainly has Scutus spp. And being from the limpet family, they would be difficult to remove. It certainly is beautiful. Can Scutus spp. form hybrids? Perhaps you could find one of the more common ones locally to pair it with, and see if they will procreate. Apparently, this is rather common in aquariums.

Most of the black and white sea slugs appear to be Dorids, and for various reasons don't seem to match your animal -- nudibranchs don't (ever?) retain their shell, and lots of dorids are "bumpy." There are sea slugs that have (internal) shells, but most are either "bumpy" or "humped", sort of like the cowries that first come to mind when one thinks "black."

Take whatever photos you can of this animal -- it sure would be nice to know what it is, as it is quite attractive.