Phyllodesmium briareum

Ennoia briareus Bergh, 1896 Phyllodesmium briareum is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.

[1] The distribution of Phyllodesmium briareum includes Indo-Pacific and Australia.

[2] Phyllodesmium briareum uses camouflage and looks like the soft coral Briareum violacea with which it is often found.

This species contains zooxanthellae but has cerata of conventional aeolid shape.

[3][2] Phyllodesmium briareum is reported to feed on a number of species of briareid soft coral including Solenopodium stelleri and Briareum stecheri (sensu MacFadyen, 1936).

Phyllodesmium briareum (one specimen at the bottom of the image) looks very similar to the soft coral Briareum violaceum (at the top of the image).