Cyerce sp. e495

Cyerce sp. e495 is so far known in the Marshalls from about a dozen specimens found at depths of 7 to 8 meters in a lagoon slope Halimeda algae patch at Kwajalein Atoll. The largest measured 18mm in length. The identification is uncertain. Our animal closely matches the one pictured as for September in the 2007 Nudibranch Calender published by Sea Challengers, and also seems to be the same as some of the animals figured as Cyerce sp. 1 on the Sea Slug Forum. This is an attractive species and should be easy to identify if the original description was based on a living specimen. The steel-gray rounded pustules on the dorsal paddles are very striking.

The animal was observed to alternately wave its paddles forward, then backward, as it crawled along (below)

It almost has the look of a small flower when it sits motionless.

Created 4 November 2007
Updated 20 September 2008