Hypselodoris gasconi? from the Adriatic

June 2, 2006
From: Cristian Magnani

Dear Bill
Recently I found a small Hypselodoris while diving. I thought it had to be a specimen of Hypselodoris villafranca - that is pretty common in this area - so I took just a few quick shoots and moved on. Once at home I realized it was something different: I think it is Hypselodoris gasconi according to the book by Egidio Trainito. If i am right it is the very first sighting of this Hypselodoris in our area. I saw there are no pictures of this nudibranch on the forum hence I wish to share my ones.

Locality: Numana, 10 mt, Italy, Adriatic Sea, 06 May 2006, sandy bottom with scattered rocks. Length: 10 mm. Photographer: Cristian Magnani.

Thanks you so much!
Best wishes
Cristian

cristianmagnani@hotmail.com

Magnani, C., 2006 (Jun 2) Hypselodoris gasconi? from the Adriatic. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16566

Dear Cristian,
Another interesting 'blue chromodorid'. I hope a local expert can confirm its identification. It also looks like some forms of H. villafranca and juvenile H. orsinii so I had a look at the original description of the H. gasconi. In that (Ortea et al, 1996) it says that 'the edge of the mantle is orange and can have the zones in front of the rhinophores and behind the gills replaced with white.' which certainly fits your photo, but can also occur in both the other two species I mention above. Ortea says H. gasconi can be differentiated from H. villafranca because the mantle border in H. gasconi is a 'strong' orange.

One difference between your animal and Ortea's illustrations of H. gasconi is the presence of a white line close to the orange border. This is not present in Ortea's description, but is present in photos (Fig 5B, C) of juvenile H. villafranca.

  • Ortea, J., Valdes, A. & Garcia-Gomez, J.C. (1996) Review of the atlantic species of the Family Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) of the blue chromatic group. Avicennia (Suppl. 1): 1-160

Hopefully a local expert can help us

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jun 2). Comment on Hypselodoris gasconi? from the Adriatic by Cristian Magnani. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16566

Related messages

  1. Unknown Onchidoris from Scapa Flow, Scotland
    From: Ian Smith, December 2, 2009
  2. Re: Another Mediterranean mystery
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia Ossokine, October 13, 2009
  3. Re: Discodoris stellifera? from the Mediterranean
    From: Philip Cromwell, October 12, 2009
  4. Re: Discodoris stellifera? from the Mediterranean
    From: Antonio Perrone, October 8, 2009
  5. Re: Discodoris stellifera? from the Mediterranean
    From: Dominique Horst, October 7, 2009
  6. Re: Unidentified dorid from Mediterranean France
    From: Sandrine Bielecki, January 21, 2009
  7. Unidentified dorid from Mediterranean France
    From: Sandrine Bielecki, January 20, 2009
  8. Unidentified species from Norway
    From: Sven Gust, June 20, 2007
  9. Unknown polycerid from Malta
    From: Patricia Peels, May 23, 2007
  10. Hypselodoris from Malta
    From: Patricia Peels, February 14, 2007
  11. Tritoniid from SE Greenland
    From: Bart van Heugten, February 4, 2006
  12. Dorid from Slovenia [1]
    From: tom turk, October 1, 2005
  13. Facelinid from Sao Tome Id., off west Africa
    From: Gonçalo Calado, April 16, 2005
  14. Re: Unknown species from Norway
    From: Jussi Evertsen, February 20, 2004
  15. Unknown species from Norway
    From: Kåre Telnes, February 19, 2004
  16. Flabellina from Cape Verde Islands
    From: Gérard Breton, August 26, 2003
  17. Pleurobranch unknown to Portugal
    From: Cesar Gavaia, June 26, 2003
  18. Elysia viridis? f rom Malta
    From: Erwin Koehler, August 7, 2001
  19. Elysia translucens from southern France
    From: Jean-Pierre Bielecki , June 8, 2001
  20. Aplysia from the Canary Ids
    From: Erwin Koehler, April 5, 2001
  21. Re: Another Mediterranean Mystery
    From: Bernard Picton, September 24, 2000
  22. Re: Unknown dorid from Croatia
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, July 10, 2000
  23. Unknown dorid from Croatia
    From: Erwin Koehler, July 2, 2000
  24. Another Mediterranean mystery
    From: Erwin Koehler, October 22, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages