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Additional Photos
side
underside
small spots
young, 7 mm
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Ceratosoma sinuatum (van Hasselt, 1824)
Maximum size: about 38 mm
(Hoover, 2006).
Identification:
In
Hawaii, this species has a bright green body with yellow to orange
spots. Irregular bright blue spots, sometimes ringed in brown,
encircle the notum just inside the mantle edge.
The greenish rhinophores and translucent tan gills are finely
flecked with white. An unusual characteristic of this species is the
tri-lobed anterior end of the mantle, with the middle lobe longer than
the other two, almost giving it the appearance of having a “nose.”
Natural history:
Ceratosoma
sinuatum is rarely seen in Hawaii. It has been
recorded from
tide pools and down to a depth of 15 m (50 ft) in moderately exposed to
exposed rocky habitats.
Elsewhere in the
Pacific, it has been found in association with sponges of the genus Dysidea (Gosliner,
et. al., 1996). The anterior and lateral mantle lobes may contain
concentrations of
glands
that produce chemicals known to repel predators.
Distribution:
Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Midway: widely distributed in the
Indo-Pacific.
Taxonomic notes:
A
purple/brown color form found elsewhere in the Pacific has not been
seen in Hawaii and some Hawaiian animals have larger blue spots
than most C. sinuatum found
in other regions. That provides some support for the hypothesis that
the Hawaiian population may be
genetically distinct. It is listed in Bertsch and Johnson, 1981 as
"jolly green giant" and was first recorded in Hawaii from Waialua, Oahu
by
Scott Johnson on June 10, 1978. It's also referred to as the "jolly
green giant" in Hoover, 1998 & 2006.
Photo: CP:
Napili Bay, Maui; May 1, 2003.
Observations and comments:
Note
1: ( )
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