Pseudocerotid #5
Dennis McCrea photographed this flatworm at "Golden Arches," Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. in January 2010 at a depth of 60-65 ft. at night. It was about 1 1/2 in. long and 1/2 in. wide. It resembles Pseudocerotid #4 on Leslie Newman's flatworm CD (illustrated here), but it lacks the ruffled tentacles of #4 and its margin is yellow, not white. Thus it appears that Dennis and his wife Debbie (who shot some good video of the beast) might have discovered a flatworm new to science.

Dennis sent his photos to flatworm specialist Marion Litvaitis at the University of New Hampshire, who wrote back "It belongs to the family Pseudocerotidae (not Euryleptidae). That's about as far as it can be id'd."

In April 2010 Pauline Fiene photographed the same species off Kihei, Maui under a piece of debris in a Halimeda bed at a depth of 65 ft. (bottom photo)

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Dennis McCrea

Pauline Fiene