Fish identification archive / Dushia flabellina

Dushia flabellina

Edmundsella dushia

Fun facts for your next surface interval

The color inside the cerata includes visible branches of the digestive system. [source]
A local 2007 record documents a roughly 14 mm animal near Peanut Island. [source]
Two familiar older genus names now lead to the same accepted species. [source]

Florida and local context

A May 2025 Blue Heron Bridge dive diary identifies and photographs an 8–10 mm individual as Flabellina dushia.

A documented past record does not establish present abundance or guarantee an encounter.

Sources: Laura Kushner: DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! (18 May 2025)

How to recognize this animal

Dushia flabellina is a tiny aeolid with a pale, often opaque-white body and contrasting red, orange or yellow digestive branches visible inside its back projections, called cerata. The relatively short rhinophores are smooth rather than conspicuously ringed or covered with papillae. Some animals show a stronger reddish band near the upper end of each colored digestive branch. Use the whole combination of body pattern, cerata and head structures, rather than matching a single orange patch.

Sources: Australian Museum Sea Slug Forum: Flabellina dushia

Size and life stages

The 2006 redescription reports living animals up to 15 mm long. A Blue Heron Bridge diary estimated its pictured individual at 8–10 mm, and a separate Lake Worth Lagoon photograph near Peanut Island records about 14 mm. These local observations are individual estimates, not a measured population size range. At this scale, a stable close-up photograph is more useful than a hurried underwater guess.

Sources: Laura Kushner: DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! (18 May 2025); JaxShells: Anne DuPont’s 8 July 2007 dushia photograph; Millen and Hamann (2006): Caribbean Flabellina descriptions and redescriptions (author-hosted University of British Columbia copy)

Habitat and where to look

Published natural-history accounts associate this species with seagrass, Sargassum and hydroids. Its local records include shallow lagoon diving, but that does not establish that every nearby reef or sand flat supports it. The Florida Museum also lists the species, under its older name Flabellina dushia, among Lake Worth Lagoon invertebrates. Search visually along existing growth without pulling material apart.

Sources: Millen and Hamann (2006): Caribbean Flabellina descriptions and redescriptions (author-hosted University of British Columbia copy); Florida Museum: Invertebrates of Lake Worth Lagoon

Range and local context

The museum account reports the Caribbean, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands. For the West Palm Beach diving area, the evidence is more precise: one diary explicitly names Blue Heron Bridge, while an older photograph names Lake Worth Lagoon near Peanut Island at Palm Beach Inlet. These are separate locality descriptions and should remain separate when logging your own observations.

Sources: Australian Museum Sea Slug Forum: Flabellina dushia; Laura Kushner: DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! (18 May 2025); JaxShells: Anne DuPont’s 8 July 2007 dushia photograph

What is on the menu?

Hydroid polyps are reported as prey. These are animals, despite their sometimes plantlike colonies. A slug resting on algae or seagrass is therefore not evidence that it eats that substrate. The sources reviewed do not establish which hydroid species this nudibranch takes at Blue Heron Bridge, so a local prey name would be premature.

Sources: Reeflex: Edmundsella dushia

Daily habits and behavior

Its small size makes careful observation especially valuable. Record whether an animal is simply crossing a surface or repeatedly putting its mouth against a colony; those are different kinds of evidence. No dependable local activity schedule or seasonal encounter rate was verified for this profile. The dated records document presence, not predictable abundance.

Mating and the next generation

The 2006 redescription documents an ovotestis with male and female follicles, confirming hermaphroditic reproductive anatomy in this species. That anatomical knowledge does not provide a local spawning calendar. This guide does not assign an egg count or larval duration, and an egg string nearby should not be attributed to the species without stronger evidence.

Sources: Millen and Hamann (2006): Caribbean Flabellina descriptions and redescriptions (author-hosted University of British Columbia copy)

Look-alikes and identification traps

Other pale, red-cerata aeolids can give a similar first impression. The 2006 revision compares dushia with the animal then called Flabellina verta, noting dushia’s shorter, tightly grouped cerata and broader white markings. Older names Coryphella dushia and Flabellina dushia refer to this same species, now accepted as Edmundsella dushia; they are not extra animals for a checklist.

Sources: Millen and Hamann (2006): Caribbean Flabellina descriptions and redescriptions (author-hosted University of British Columbia copy); WoRMS / MolluscaBase: Edmundsella dushia

Observe without disturbing

Keep fins, camera housings and fingers clear of the animal and its support. Photograph the head and back from naturally available angles, then add date, depth and site to the record. Leave it where you found it. A useful identification image does not require moving a millimeter-sized slug into a cleaner background.

Harvest, protection and eating safety

Live-only ornamental collection; no collection at Blue Heron Bridge

Yellow means legal or safety conditions require attention. It is not an edible badge or permission to take an animal.

This color is a qualified summary, not permission to collect or a guarantee that a particular animal is safe to eat.

Can it be hunted or harvested?

Dushia flabellina falls under Florida’s expressly named nudibranch/sea-slug category. A recreational saltwater fishing license is required unless exempt. Where collection is lawful, the animal must be landed alive and maintained alive in a suitably sized circulating, aerated or oxygenated system. The recreational limit is five of this species within 20 marine-life organisms per person per day; the two-day possession limit is ten of this species within 40 total. Recreational sale is prohibited. No species-specific size limit is stated in the reviewed marine-life table.

Florida seasons and areas

The designated Blue Heron Bridge Special Marine Life Area, including Phil Foster Park and its mapped surrounding waters, is closed to collection of listed tropical ornamental marine life. Narrow motorized-vessel transit and landing exceptions concern animals lawfully taken elsewhere, not collection here. The Florida marine-life requirements also apply in adjacent federal waters. No species-specific annual closed months are stated in the reviewed marine-life table. Biscayne National Park, state parks, wildlife refuges and Florida Keys sanctuary zones can impose additional closures; check the actual location before collecting.

Can it be speared?

No recreational spearing under these live-only marine-life requirements. Collection uses authorized nonlethal hand/net/slurp-gun methods, subject to species and site restrictions. Quinaldine is prohibited.

Is it safe to eat?

This is live-only ornamental collection, not food harvest. Do not kill a collected animal for a meal. No recipe or safe-to-eat claim is provided.

The regulatory wording uses the older umbrella “Subclass Opisthobranchia.” Modern taxonomy uses different higher groups; the rule expressly names nudibranchs/sea slugs. This is not permission to collect substrate, host colonies or other animals. Edmundsella dushia is the accepted name; Flabellina dushia is the older combination on the local photograph.

Palm Beach is Atlantic Florida. Do not transfer Atlantic guidance to the Gulf, Monroe County, or federal waters without checking the applicable rules.

Before you act: Confirm the species, date, exact management area, state or federal waters, gear, licenses and current local closures. A local occurrence record never grants permission to take an animal.

Official rules and health guidance

Reviewed 2026-11-11. Rules and advisories can change; check the linked authorities before acting.

Identification and source cautions

Local hydroid prey identity and breeding season not verified.
Local 8–14 mm figures are individual estimates; published 15 mm upper length is from the 2006 study.
Common name is a field-guide label, not a standardized taxonomic name.

Sources and review

Biology and taxonomy reviewed 2026-11-11. Photographs on cited sites are reference material and are not reproduced here.

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