Home Acknowledgments Conventions Glossary Maps References Links Articles Thumbnails Species list Family Next species _______________   Additional Photos   atypical patterns   young, 8 mm   autotomized mantle   with food sponge   egg mass _______________   GALLERY	Tayuva lilacina  (Gould, 1852)   Maximum size:  35 mm (Kay, 1979). Identification:  This is a pale brown species decorated with irregular darker blotches. The notum is covered with small papillae that vary in length. The branchia are cream, frosted with white. Lines of patches on each side of the notum are often darker than the rest. Natural history:  Tayuva lilacina is a common nocturnal species. It is found primarily in the low intertidal and tide pools though, rarely, it may occur at depths up to 21 m (69 ft). (Bertsch and Johnson, 1981) It occurs in protected to exposed rocky habitats. It sometimes autotomizes portions of its mantle when disturbed, presumably as a defensive measure and it feeds on a turquoise encrusting sponge (Note 1). It lays a cream egg mass with a variably ruffled margin that hatches in about five days in the laboratory. Distribution:  Big Island, Maui, Oahu, Kauai and Kure: widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific. Taxonomic notes:  This is the species listed as Discodoris fragilis (Alder and Hancock, 1866) in Kay, 1979 and Bertsch and Johnson, 1981. It is also listed in many sources as Discodoris lilacina. It was first reported from Hawaii in Kay & Young, 1969. Photo:  John Hoover: found by Darrell Takaoka; May 6, 1997. Observations and comments: Note 1:  We've often found it associated with this sponge in the field and have observed it feeding on fragments of the sponge in dishes.
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