Cerberilla from the Marshall Islands

November 27, 1999
From: Scott Johnson


Hi Bill,

Glad to see the posted Cerberilla species. I've been uncertain about the identity of the single species I've so far seen in the Marshalls. Looking at your pictures, it seems closest to C. annulata, since it has black and (faint) yellow banks on the cerata. Attached are two scans of the single specimen I've run across. This animal was 38mm long and found at night crawling on the surface of the sand near the lagoon shore of Enewetak Island at a depth of about 3 meters.

I have another Cerberilla from the Solomon Islands that I'll send separately.

Scott

johnson@kmr.ll.mit.edu

Johnson, S., 1999 (Nov 27) Cerberilla from the Marshall Islands. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1614

Thanks Scott,
I have seen photos of an animal from Fiji which looks just like this but no sign of yellow. It certainly looks like C. annulata but I'll err on the side of caution and leave it as Cerberilla sp 3.. I've found its easier to amalgamate 2 species in the Forum than split them up.

At 35mm, your animal's proportionally long oral tentacles, fit my suggestion that this is a feature of juvenile animals, although the pictures I am posting today of Cerberilla incola don't fit the theory, the juvenile having very short oral tentacles.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Nov 27). Comment on Cerberilla from the Marshall Islands by Scott Johnson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1614

Factsheet

Cerberilla sp. 3.

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    From: Clay Carlson , December 1, 1999

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