Ercolania cf coerulea Trinchese, 1892
<5mm

Ercolania coerulea is a small species from the Mediterranean. A number of small specimens found and photographed by Christina Sylvester closely resemble the Mediterranean species and may be a Pacific form of it. Gosliner et al (2018), however, suggest there are subtle differences and it is best to keep the identification tentative at this time. These animals, all less than about 5mm in length, were found on and within clumps of the algae Dictyosphaeria in a Kwajalein reef quarry.

There appear to be eggs, presumably from this species, in the algae on the left side of the frame below.

The photo below shows one of the animals dug into the partially eaten colony of Dictyosphaeria.

We are guessing that the colorless one below by might be the same species.

Created 6 February 2015
Updated 4 December 2018

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