Flabellina babai from Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy
June 21, 2006
From: Paolo G. Albano
Dear Bill,
Here are a few photos taken while scuba diving in Italy. I think they are Flabellina babai. There is also a photo of a couple probably mating.
Locality: Porto S. Stefano, Argentario (Grosseto), Toscana, -10 metres, Italy, Mediterranean Sea - Thyrrenian Sea, 3 and 10 June 2006, Muddy bottom with a few rigid objects (mainly of anthropic origin: tyres, lost nets, concrete blocks). Length: 30 to 40 mm. Photographer: Paolo G. Albano.
Best regards
Paolo
broderipi@yahoo.com
Albano, P.G., 2006 (Jun 21) Flabellina babai from Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16884
Dear Paolo,
Thanks for these photos, which show some of the features of this species very well, including the way the cerata are arranged on common stalks. One interesting feature I hadn't read of before is how the tips of oral tentacles apparently wave up and down as the animal crawls along. In one photo you can see the tentacles fully extended but in the photo alongside the tips are lifted up. This is quite like the behaviour of the Indo-West Pacific species of Flabellina with paddle-shaped oral tentacles such as F. bicolor.
Concerning mating. I am not sure if they are actually mating, but they appear to be aligning the front part of their right sides together, which is a necessary first step.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Flabellina babai and egg mass
From: Dominique Horst, June 26, 2007 -
Flabellina babai from Croatia
From: Andrej Jaklin, April 14, 2006 -
Re: Flabellina babai from southern Italy
From: Juan Lucas Cervera, February 14, 2006 -
Flabellina babai from southern Italy
From: Gennaro Ciavarella, February 13, 2006 -
Flabellina babai from Portugal
From: David Abecasis, September 8, 2005 -
Flabellina babai and egg mass
From: Joao Pedro Tojal Loia Soares Silva, August 28, 2003 -
Re: Flabellina babai from Senegal
From: Juan Lucas Cervera, April 5, 2003 -
Flabellina babai from Senegal
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, April 3, 2003 -
Flabellina babai? from Turkey
From: Ferda Buyukbaykal, January 24, 2003 -
Re: Flabellina babai? from Portugal
From: Joao Pedro Tojal Silva, September 26, 2002 -
Re: Flabellina babai? from Portugal
From: Juan Lucas Cervera, September 26, 2002 -
Flabellina babai? from Portugal
From: Joao Pedro Tojal Silva, September 25, 2002 -
Flabellina babai from the Mediterranean
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, July 26, 2002 -
Re: Flabellina babai from Turkey
From: Juan Lucas Cervera, June 14, 2002 -
Flabellina babai from Turkey
From: Baki Yokes, June 11, 2002