Phil Garner, Southern California Marine Life, USA
Info
Pseudoceros mexicanus Hyman, 1953
The Mexican Skirt Dancer has an elongated oval profile with strongly ruffled lateral margins. The body colour is black, brown or reddish-purpleand are covered with numerous white spots that do not extend to the margin. The margin is marked by a light orange to reddish orange band.
This strong swimmer are found on and under rocks within tidal pools and intertidally at depths up to 18 m.
The Mexican Skirt Dancer derive their common name from their graceful undulating swimming movements resembling a dancer’s skirt.
Reproduction:
The whirlworm can reproduce both asexually and sexually. This species is hermaphroditic, meaning that it has both male and female reproductive organs. When two whirlworms reproduce, they fight to decide who will be fertilized and who will be the fertilizer. The winner gets to act as the male individual and fertilize the other.
The Mexican Skirt Dancer has an elongated oval profile with strongly ruffled lateral margins. The body colour is black, brown or reddish-purpleand are covered with numerous white spots that do not extend to the margin. The margin is marked by a light orange to reddish orange band.
This strong swimmer are found on and under rocks within tidal pools and intertidally at depths up to 18 m.
The Mexican Skirt Dancer derive their common name from their graceful undulating swimming movements resembling a dancer’s skirt.
Reproduction:
The whirlworm can reproduce both asexually and sexually. This species is hermaphroditic, meaning that it has both male and female reproductive organs. When two whirlworms reproduce, they fight to decide who will be fertilized and who will be the fertilizer. The winner gets to act as the male individual and fertilize the other.
