The frilled nudibranch, Leminda millecra, is a species of metarminid nudibranch, and is only found in South Africa. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Charcotiidae.[1]
This species is endemic to the South African coast and is found from the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula to Port Elizabeth in 10–40 m. Deep water specimens have been trawled off the KwaZulu-Natal coast.[2]
The frilled nudibranch is a large (up to 90 mm) smooth-bodied nudibranch with a frilled appearance. Margins of the body have a bright bluish edge, and the body may have pink or brown pigmentation. The rhinophores are elongated and smooth, and emerge from a scrolled sheath.[3] Branches of the digestive gland fill the frilled edge of the mantle.[4]
The mantle has a white-edged, relatively thin structure with large, sinuous folds, and an anterior break along the mantle edge between the rhinophores (chemosensory tentacles). It features a prominent oral veil. The rhinophores are pale, smooth, tapering, and do not retract into pockets. The digestive gland divides into fine, branching ducts visible through the translucent body wall. Color varies from pink to brown, depending on the food color present in the digestive gland ducts. [5]
The egg mass of Leminda millecra consists of fat white convoluted curls with large eggs distinctly visible. It is reported to feed on the soft coral Alcyonium fauri.[6]