Atagema echinata (Pease, 1860) ?

This species is probably Atagema echinata or perhaps a young specimen of Atagema osseosa. The single specimen observed here in the Marshalls practiced autotomy when disturbed. The main body of the nudibranch is on the left side, anterior end down, while its entire mantle margin, which it let go, is on the right. The single specimen found measured 12mm (before shedding) and was crawling exposed on dead coral covered with algae at night at a depth of 10m on an Enewetak Atoll lagoon pinnacle.

Created 12 December 2006