Hypselodoris acriba from Key Largo, Florida, USA

July 5, 2003
From: Paul Osmond

Hi there,
My friend John Easley found this nudibranch next to a shallow reef (about 20ft/6m) in Key Largo, Florida in the last week of June 2003.

It appears to be the basic shape of the other Hypselodoris species commonly known here as 'Sea Goddesses', but this is the first we have seen of this species in the area so we know absolutely nothing about it. It was not described in Humann which is still the best ID book currently available for Caribbean nudibranchs and I couldn't find it on this site either (but that may be because I am not sure what I am looking for)

John and I are both keen nudi hunters here and are attempting to learn as much as we can about the local species as there seems to be so little information in the Caribbean Would appreciate any thoughts and any identification.
Thanks,
Paul
Deep Sea Images
www.deepseaimages.com

deepsea@deepseaimages.com

Osmond, P., 2003 (Jul 5) Hypselodoris acriba from Key Largo, Florida, USA. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10378

Dear Paul,
This is Hypselodoris acriba. It matches the Marcuses' description very well and looks very similar to Dave Behren's photo from Honduras. There aren't many records of this species. It was originally reported from off the Venezualan coast, there is the record from Honduras, and now there is yours from Florida.

Concerning your interest in learning more about these animals, we are definitely still in 'self-help' mode. We know very little about the Caribbean opisthobranch fauna - so every photo and message sent to the Forum helps us to all learn a bit more. Messages already posted on the Forum have taught us a lot of about the colour variation, and aspects of natural history [feeding, egg ribbons, etc]. At this stage almost any photo would help increase our knowledge of the Caribbean fauna.

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Jul 5). Comment on Hypselodoris acriba from Key Largo, Florida, USA by Paul Osmond. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10378

Factsheet

Hypselodoris acriba

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