DIVE LOG Australasia

Above : Jorunna rubescens is a most unlikely looking discodorid. Left : The juvenile is mostly a furry translucent white with distinct opaque white longitudinal lines, the only colour coming from the internal organs and the tips of the gills. It does have the raised gill pocket and the emergence of the characteristic snout. Right : The fully developed adult with its distinctive dog-like snout and raised gill pocket.

Above : Pleurobranchus peronii is a member of a group called Side-gilled slugs. They have an internal shell remnant often visible through the translucent mantle of the juvenile at Left . The colours of the juvenile are quite different and so too is the texture of the mantle surface. It passes through intermediate colour forms before maturing into the adult at Right . The adult may be one of a number of colours.

Above : This large sea slug is also a species of Side-gilled slug - Pleurobranchus weberi . The juvenile, Left , is translucent with the shell remnant covering the internal organs visible through the mantle. The mantle surface is decorated with a simple reticulation of white with low maroon-coloured tubercles located within. The adult, at Right , is almost totally maroon coloured with a series of white concentric circles.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24