In Reply to: Finding Hallaxa posted by Max Bottomtime on August 08, 2011 at 19:12:25:

Hi Merry,

Great image of a great find! Jeff Hamann in the Opisthobranch Newsletter (1981, 13(6):21) reported finding a specimen in 1980 intertidally in La Jolla, but his record never made it into the books and apparently wasn't backed by a photo or specimen - although Jeff does know his nudibranchs. In any case, I think we can safely say that yours is the most southerly documented record for this species. Two years ago I found a small specimen intertidally near Santa Barbara, and a few years ago Bruce Wight reported a specimen subtidally from San Miguel Island .

Hallaxa chani specializes on the tan-colored slime sponge, Halisarca sp., small amounts of which appear to be present in the interstices of the underlying bryozoan substrate to the right of your specimen. The slug had probably grazed the sponge down as far as possible, leaving behind trace amounts.

Keep up the great work, and thanks for keeping me posted,
Jeff