About Duvaucelia odhneri J.Tardy, 1963
Duvaucelia odhneri, commonly called the South African whip fan nudibranch, is a small nudibranch that reaches a maximum length of 30 mm. This species is a well-camouflaged animal that mimics the gorgonians it feeds on. Its branched rhinophores extend out from cup-like sheaths, and paired branching projections run along the full length of its body. These projections resemble the feeding polyps of the sea fan species that the nudibranch preys on. This species is distributed in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. It has also been reported from South Africa, but DNA evidence indicates the South African population is a separate, still un-named species. Around the South African coast, the un-named population is found on both sides of the Cape Peninsula, at depths between 10 and 30 meters. In terms of ecology, the whip fan nudibranch feeds on gorgonian corals of the genus Eunicella. It lays its eggs in a thin zigzag spiral wrapped around the main axis of these sea fans, and the egg mass is colored to match the host gorgonian for camouflage.
