Recently, Seth and I went looking for marine life near the Yacht Club at Eastern Beach. We were having a typical night. He had found a number of fish, an eel, biscuit stars and sea cucumbers.
After 90 minutes, Seth shouted out “I found a sea slug!”
Cue the excitement.
I love looking for marine life, but I have a particular fascination with sea slugs. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to find many. We have found a couple of species of sea hares but, alas, no nudibranches.
I was excited when I saw this specimen. It reminded me of a headshield slug we had found nearby in 2021. That species was identified as Philinopsis Taronga. This slug looked physically similar, although I didn’t know enough about the features to know why. I quickly googled other Philinopsis species and was able to narrow it down to Philinopsis lineolata.
I was so excited. I normally need to seek help to identify an unfamiliar species. This time, I was able to do it all by myself! I was able to confirm it after reading Nudibranchs And Related Molluscs. It is apparently one of three Philinopsis species found in Victoria.
I’m glad I was able to experience this. However, it has highlighted just how much I have to learn.
