Cerberilla annulata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)

So far, only three specimens of Cerberilla annulata have been found in the Marshalls, one at Enewetak and the other two at Kwajalein. We assume they are both the same species, although there was some variation in color, which may be due to size. The upper two photos are of the Enewetak specimen, which measured 38mm long and was found crawling on sand at night in 3 meters of water on Enewetak's lagoon reef. The next three photos are of the Kwajalein specimen, which was much smaller, only 20mm, and was crawling on sand at a depth of about 1 meter during the day in Kwajalein harbor. Both specimens were moved to other substrates for the photographs.

The third specimen was found on 1 September 2008 on a Kwajalein Atoll sandy lagoon reef near a Halimeda patch at a depth of 10m. This one, figured below, measured about 50mm and was similar in color to the Enewetak specimen, except that the tips of the cephalic tentacles were light gray rather than black.

Created 8 January 2007
Updated 13 September 2008