Slender Roboastra (species: Roboastra gracilis) in Australian Seaslugs (Gaia Guide)
Australian Seaslugs > Animalia > Mollusca > Gastropoda > Nudibranchia > Polyceridae > Roboastra > Roboastra gracilis (gallery)
Roboastra gracilis
Slender Roboastra


©Barbara Banks: Roboastra gracilis at MacGillivray Reef

©David Witherall and Harriet Adelaide: Slender Roboastra (Roboastra gracilis)

©Barbara Banks: Roboastra gracilis at Lizard Island

show or add records

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Order Nudibranchia
Family Polyceridae
Genus Roboastra
Species Roboastra gracilis

Show in taxonomy
Show field guides

Colours

                        

Distinguishing features

Distinguishing features still need to be specified.

Size

  • Size data has not been obtained.

Synonyms

Interesting facts

  • This Nudibranch hunts other nudibranchs and will eat them even if they are 4 to 5 times bigger than themselves. The two appendages at the front are larger than most and are like a pair of lips that literally taste the ground searching for the mucous trail of its victims, it then follows the trail (probably going quicker because its already slippery) and then leaps (or slides) on its prey and eats it alive.

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Web resources

References

  • Cortesi, F. and K.L. Cheney (2010). Conspicuousness is correlated with toxicity in marine opisthobranchs, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23: 1509-1518. LIRS catalog number 1360.
  • Waegele, H., I. Burghardt, N. Anthes, J. Evertsen, A. Klussman-Kolb and G. Brodie (2006). Species diversity of opisthobranch molluscs on Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, In: Contemporary studies into the systematics and evolution of opisthobranch molluscs, (Eds. G. Brodie, S. Fahey and F.E. Wells), Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 69: 33-59. LIRS catalog number 1036.