Hydatina physis mating

July 2, 2005
From: Marina Poddubetskaia


Dear Bill,

In Senegal I found a wreck full of Hydatina physis: they were everywhere on the deck, crawling, mating, laying eggs. I attach here 2 photos of mating animals. The one with 3 animals wanting to copulate all together is quite funny. I will send you the photos with eggs in a separate message [#14149 ].

Locality: 'Nimes' (wreck), Dakar, Senegal, Atlantic Ocean. Depth: 28 m. Length: 35-55 mm.  4-5 June 2005. Photos: Marina Poddubetskaia - Nembro website

Best wishes,
Marina.

nembro@nembro.info

Poddubetskaia, M., 2005 (Jul 2) Hydatina physis mating. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14148

Thanks Marina,
Hydatina physis seems to be another of those species which is often found in big aggregations. It is certainly nice to get some more photos of this Atlantic form of the species which Odhner gave the name H. stromfelti [see message #1835]. In your photo of the three animals together, you can see in the top right animal the cream coloured gill extending out from the mantle cavity within the shell. It penis, just below the gill, is probably impregnating the upper left animal. It seems the threesome is someone successful as it seems the top left animal is mating with the bottom animal.  In the photo showing the two animals there is also an egg mass at the bottom right.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jul 2). Comment on Hydatina physis mating by Marina Poddubetskaia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14148

Factsheet

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