DIVE LOG Australasia

Miamira magnifica : The juvenile of the species, at Left , exhibits all the characteristics of the adult with ridges, lumps and mantle edge scalloping, but is underdeveloped and of simpler colouration. The adult, at Right , however by maturity, has undergone a virtual explosion of colour and patterning development along with the enlargement of ridges and prominences on the dorsum.

Above : Pteraeolidia semperi . Although the example on the Left is not technically a juvenile it is essentially how one would appear. It has not as yet taken up the zooxanthellae from its prey, to farm in its cerata, hence their lack of colour. The adult, at Right , grows by lengthening and adding more and more rows of cerata, stocking its cerata with zooxanthellae and developing distinctive patterning on its sides and dorsum.

Above Left : A juvenile Bornella anguilla cannot be mistaken for any other species. It bears all the hallmarks of the adult of the species in features, colouration and patterning. Above Right : Not every tiny sea slug is a juvenile. The tiny Vayssierea felis is usually noticed as a minute orange dot under intertidal rocks. It is so small it does not require a gill for respiration.

22

DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24

www.divelog.net.au