Halgerda stricklandi is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of sea slug

Slug

Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...

, a dorid nudibranch

Nudibranch

A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...

, a shell-less marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae

Discodorididae

Discodorididae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, specifically dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Doridoidea. Species in this family belong to the cryptobranch dorid nudibranchs, i.e. they are able to retract their gills into a gill pocket . Most are small and hard to...

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Distribution

This species has been found in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Malaysia, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, the Andaman Sea

Andaman Sea

The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....

 and Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

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Description

This animal can be distinguished by large, conical, bright orange-tipped tubercles scattered over the dorsum. Below each of the orange tips the tubercles is a band of solid white. Many smaller orange tubercles are scattered amongst the larger ones. The rhinophore club is translucent yellow. There is a single black line extending down the length of both the rhinophore club and stalk, on the posterior midline. There is black pigmentation on the anterior side of the club, while the gill has black spots on the anterior sides of the four branchial leaves. The margin of the foot is orange.

Further reading

• Fahey, S.J. & Gosliner, T.M. (1999) Preliminary Phylogeny of Halgerda (Nudibranchia: Halgerdidae) from the tropical Indo-Pacific, with descriptions of three new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 51(11): 424-448.