Mating Hypselodoris picta from Canary Ids

August 4, 2007
From: Brian Mayes

Dear Bill,

I found two pairs of mating Hypselodoris picta webbi on a recent dive off the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. The pairs were only a few inches apart. It was difficult to see exactly what was going on with each pair but I managed to snap a few photos that I hope you will find interesting.

Locality: "El Rincón", La Restinga, 15 metres, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Atlantic Ocean, 26 June 2007, Rocks covered with algae and weed. Length: 70mm. Photographer: Brian Mayes.

Kind Regards
Brian Mayes

brian@mayescai.freeserve.co.uk

Mayes, B.R., 2007 (Aug 4) Mating Hypselodoris picta from Canary Ids. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20361

Dear Brian,
Thanks for these photos. It looks like the pair in the middle two photos were interrupted. The white mass you can see by the genital opening of the right animal is a packet of sperm which has clearly lost its way. It seems that during mating the animals were disturbed and while withdrawing their penes back into their bodies this blob of sperm was ejected.

In the lower photo there is a translucent greyish band along the edge of the mantle on each side, and in it you can see opaque white spheres. These are the mantle glands [or MDFs] which are characteristic of chromodorids, and are a place where they store antifeedant chemicals obtained from the sponges they eat. Each genus has a distinctive arrangement of these glands, and in Hyspelodoris there is usually a concentration of this spherical type of gland around the posterior edge of the mantle, and another concentration anteriorly alongside the rhinophores on each side. In this photo we can see the posterior concentration on the right of the photo, and the anterior concentration on the left side.

Finally, I am not sure if I agree with your use of the subspecies name Hypselodoris picta webbi. As I say on the Fact Sheet, there seem to be populations of H. p. webbi and H. p. picta on both sides of the Atlantic so there seems little reason to consider them geographical subspecies. If they are not separated geographically what is separating them? If they are living sympatrically and are genetically isolated doesn't that make them species? I am using the subspecies names for some of the other supposed subspecies of H. picta because they have distinctly different colour patterns and seem to be geographically isolated. I guess I am sitting on the fence on this question. Any other views are welcome.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 4). Comment on Mating Hypselodoris picta from Canary Ids by Brian Mayes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20361

Factsheet

Hypselodoris picta

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