Aglaja felis
Marcus & Marcus, 1970

Order: CEPHALASPIDEA
Superfamily: PHILINOIDEA
Family: Aglajidae

DISTRIBUTION

Caribbean

PHOTO

Found over a range of 100 miles in the Exumas chain of islands, Southern Bahamas, Depth: 2 - 10 feet. [January - March, 2003]. Upper: 1/8 inch - 1 inch long. Lower: approx 1/4 inch. Photos: Anne DuPont.

Marcus & Marcus (1970) described this small aglajid from Puerto Rico. The living animals were 8-12mm long, and the colour was described from photos as 'velvet black all over, or dark reddish brown'. Thompson (1977) reports numerous 4-7mm long specimens of the black colour form from Jamaica. The headshield is 'a little or much larger than mantle shield' and 'the left posterior mantle lobe appears somewhat broader than the right one; no flagellum.' The only other record of this species is Thompson's (1977) from Jamaica. I assume they named the species felis because of Eveline Marcus' great love of cats.

The upper photo fits the original description of A. felis. The original description does not mention lighter specks on the body so it is possible the brownish speckled animal is a second species. I guess this is something that only more work will sort out

References:
• Marcus, Er. & Marcus, Ev. (1970) Opisthobranchs from Curacao and faunistically related regions. Uitqaven van der Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen, 59: 1-129.
• Thompson, T.E. (1977) Jamaican opisthobranch molluscs I. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 43(2): 93-139, pls.1-3.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (April 13) Aglaja felis Marcus & Marcus, 1970. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aglafeli

Related messages

  1. Aglaja felis from Bahamas
    From: Anne DuPont, January 16, 2004
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    From: Anne DuPont, April 15, 2003

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