Heron Ardeadoris

Ardeadoris egretta is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae. It is the type species of the genus Ardeadoris.

Description

This white slug with a yellow border grows to a length of about 12 cm. It has white body, rhinophores and gill with thin orangish mantle margine.

Distribution

This species was described from Escape Reef and other sites on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. It occurs in the Indian Ocean and the tropical Western Pacific in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.

Habitat and biology

It inhabits shallow coastal reefs and feeds on calcareous sponges. As all Nudibranchia they are simultaneous hermaphrodites.

Mating behavior: Both individuals darts their penis toward each other to induce one to act as a male and the other as the female. The victorious one to penetrate the body wall is the dominant male.

Life cycle: Eggs are deposited on a substratum where they develop and hatch into (planktonic) vestigial veliger larval stage and further grow as adults.