Janolus from British Columbia

May 11, 2007
From: Kaia P. Turner

Hi Bill,

While diving on Four Mile Shoal in Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada in November 2006, I took a picture of a very cute little creature that I was unable to identify at the time. It was at a depth of between 45 and 50 feet. I cannot be sure of the exact size of the creature, but it was quite small - less than an inch. 

This week I attempted to find it again, and ended up finding two nudibranchs that appeared similar - the Golden Dirona (Dirona pellucida) and the Janolus fuscus. I also came across a post from 2000 by Marli Wakeling [#2500] about Dirona aurantia (now classified as Dirona pellucida) on the Sea Slug Forum where she wrote:
"There is another nudibranch that mimics this one, but it is new and undescribed; in fact it is a Janolus sp. One can tell the difference from the liver coloured digestive tract ... otherwise identical."

That sounded like the nudibranch in my image, and I contacted Marli to see if she could give me a positive identification. She believed it was the Janolus sp. she had referred to in her post, and she forwarded the photo to Dave Behrens for a second opinion.

Kind regards,
Kaia

Seattle, WA, USA

kaiapturner@gmail.com

Turner, K.P., 2007 (May 11) Janolus from British Columbia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19896

Dear Kaia,
This is an interesting find. I was going to say the digestive gland ducts in the cerata are about the only thing you can see in your photo which differs from Dirona pellucida, but Marli's already said it.

I look forward to comments from the local experts

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (May 11). Comment on Janolus from British Columbia by Kaia P. Turner. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19896

Factsheet

Janolus sp 10

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    From: J. Hildering & G. Miller, March 27, 2008
  2. Re: Janolus from British Columbia
    From: Ron Velarde, May 11, 2007

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