Phyllodesmium longicirrum

Phyllodesmium longicirrum, common name the solar-powered phyllodesmium, is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.^[1]

Phyllodesmium longicirrum crawling on the soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum.

Phyllodesmium longicirrum
Phyllodesmium longicirrum, head end towards the lower left, crawling on its prey the soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Nudibranchia
Suborder:	Cladobranchia
Family:	Myrrhinidae
Genus:	Phyllodesmium
Species:	P. longicirrum
Binomial name
Phyllodesmium longicirrum (Bergh, 1905)
Synonyms
Myrrhine longicirra Phyllodesmium longicirra

Distribution

The distribution of Phyllodesmium longicirrum includes Australia and Indonesia.^[2]

Description

This is a very large species, growing to at least 140 mm. Phyllodesmium longicirrum contains photosynthetic zooxanthellae, which allow it to draw energy from sunlight, hence its common name, the solar-powered phyllodesmium.^[3] This is actually a misleading name, as several other species of Phyllodesmium are also capable of photosynthesis, although this is developed to the greatest extreme in this species.^[4][5]

A closeup of the nudibranch, showing the clusters of zooxanthellae

Ecology

Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeds on soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum (family Alcyoniidae).^[2]