Morning Becomes Electra

With seasonal winds blowing, William Tan’s second photo shoot in Gorontalo was mainly confined to early morning diving in a few protected sites. Most of the time we were muck diving, including the lagoon side of a little barrier reef where we spent three days with one yellow ribbon eel.

Also at the site were a colony of Electra headshield slugs (Chelionura electra). In the photo, you can see the shadow of its internal shell. This slug feeds on acoel flatworms, which are abundant in Gorontalo. Named after the Greek goddess Electra whose name means the brilliant one, the usual form of this slug is pale white with lemon yellow edging on its wings and tail flaps. However, Sulawesi species have patches of black or grey maze and the yellow edging is scarcely detectable.