Pleurobranchus albiguttatus from Reunion Island

December 13, 2006
From: Hugues Flodrops

Concerning message #11585:

Dear Bill,
I found under a stone, one other Pleurobranchus, near the where I found P. peroni [message #18662]. My best guess was P. albiguttatus but the pattern colour seemed more red than photo of  Marina Poddubestkaia [#11585]. Is Pleurobranchus atlanticus a synonym of this species?
Thank you very much for your time and for the forum.

Locality: Etang-Salé Cote Rocheuse, 0,50 m, Reunion Island, Indian Ocean, 1 december 2006. Length: 40 mm. Photographer: Hugues Flodrops

Regards.
Hugues.

hugues.flodrops@wanadoo.fr

Flodrops, H., 2006 (Dec 13) Pleurobranchus albiguttatus from Reunion Island. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18785

Dear Hugues,

While preparing your message I was surprised to see the treatment of P. atlanticus in the new book by Valdes et al. (2006), Caribbean Sea Slugs. I have discussed this in more detail in a separate mesage [#18917 ]

In my opinion the most distinctive external feature of P. atlanticus  is the series of larger tubercles down each side of the midline which each have a white triangular mark on them.  This is also the most distinctive external feature on the Indo-West Pacific species P. albiguttatus, and as I say in my earlier comments [#5301] I wouldn't be surprised if P. atlanticus turns out to be the same as P. albiguttatus.

It is interesting that your juvenile has a thin orange mantle border. Anne Dupont [message #5301] sent us a photo of two white juveniles, from the Caribbean, with a thin orange border, which I identified as P. atlanticus, which again reinforces the similarity between these two species.  Mind you it is not unique to those two species as I illustrate a similar coloured juvenile of P. peroni on the Fact Sheet for that species.

So to your question about whether P. atlanticus is a synonym of P. alboguttatus, I can say we need to recheck their anatomy, but if I were a gambling man. I think I would put a lot of money on a 'yes' answer.

One interesting feature we can see in your photo [middle right] of the underside of the animal is the intense white elongate patch at the posterior end of the sole of the foot. This is a gland which develops in most species of Pleurobranchus as they reach maturity. I am pretty sure no one has ever studied the function of this gland - another one of the many things we still have to learn about these animals

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Dec 13). Comment on Pleurobranchus albiguttatus from Reunion Island by Hugues Flodrops. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18785

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