''Asteronotus spongicolus'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary time ...

or dorid

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to match, ...

, a marine gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Discodorididae Discodorididae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, specifically dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Doridoidea.Bouchet, P. (2011). Discodorididae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.mari ...

.Bouchet, P. (2016)
''Asteronotus spongicolus'' Gosliner & Valdés, 2002.
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-10-24.

Distribution

This species was described from

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

, Tanzania with additional material from the mainland coast of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and also from

Lizard Island Lizard Island is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland (Australia), northwest of Brisbane and part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island. It is part of the Lizard Island National Park. Lizard Island is within ...

, North Queensland, Australia. It is also known from

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and the Philippines.Gosliner T.M., Behrens D.W. & Valdés A. (2008) Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs. Sea Challengers Natural History Books and California Academy of Sciences. 426 pp., page 174.

Description

Ecology

''Asteronotus spongicolus'' feeds on the leafy sponge ''Carteriospongia'' sp. and is well camouflaged on the undersides of the sponge blades.

References

Discodorididae Gastropods described in 2002 {{Discodorididae-stub