Facelinopsis marioni from Mediterranean
February 8, 2000
From: Miquel Pontes
This is the Facelinopsis marioni (picture by Lluís Aguilar). It is a small (1.5cm) pink colored nudibranch we came across in a shallow dive (12m) at the Spanish French border, in a dive site named "La Foradada", in the village of Portbou.
It has an iridiscent line across the dorsum. Oral tentacles and rhinophores are also pink with a lighter shade of color on the tips. Curved cerata, a quite characteristic trait, with the front part colored white.
It is considered to be typical of shallow waters, dark places and overhangs.
We are interested on this nudibranch etymology. We know that "Facelina" means "striped face" thanks to Bernard Picton's book, but have no idea of the suffix "-opsis". About Marioni, we think it is dedicated to Antoine-Fortuné Marion, (1846-1900) French zoologist and conservator of the Marseille Natural History Museum.
Any other information will be welcome.
Miquel Pontes
mpontes@marenostrum.org
Pontes, M., 2000 (Feb 8) Facelinopsis marioni from Mediterranean. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1865Dear Miquel,
I am not an expert on classical languages but I think '-opsis' is a diminutive ending meaning little or small. In this case 'small Facelina'.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
