This unidentified eolid is known in the Marshalls from a pair of 5mm specimens from Kwajalein Atoll. They were under a rock on the top of a lagoon pinnacle that had been damaged by a ship grounding about 7 months earlier, leaving the entire top crushed and white. When these nudibranchs were found, some growth, particularly fast growing hydroids along with small sponge and bryozoan colonies, had started to come back under the still mostly white broken coral rocks. Gosliner et al (2018) show a simlar animal as Tenellia sp. 59. It also resembles our Tenellia sp. e427, especially in the white foot. However, Tenellia e427 was a bit darker and had white rhinophores. Still, we have seen too few specimens to know anything about their variability, and both could be the same species. We have also seen this species in the Philippines.
Created 25 December 2015
Updated 4 December 2018