Another Flabellina from the French Mediterranean

April 16, 2008
From: François Zylberman

Dear Bill,

Could you help me to identify this other aeolid ? It's perhaps a Flabellina?
Some gills are just behind the head.

Locality: Antibes, 20m, France, Mediterranean Sea, August 2003. Photographer: François Zylberman.

Many thanks
François Zylberman
www.geodia.com

francois@geodia.com

Zylberman, F., 2008 (Apr 16) Another Flabellina from the French Mediterranean. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20872

Dear François,

In your other message [#20871] about Flabellina ischitana I mentioned there was another very similar species which differed in having an opaque purple band just below the ceratal tip. You can see it clearly in your photo, which would make it Flabellina affinis. The ceratal groups in your photo in the present message don't seem to be on such obvious basal stalks but I suspect they are very contracted in this photo.

In this photo you can also see the fine rings on the rhinophores. They are also present in F. ischitana but are not so clearly seen in your earlier photo. The two white sausage-shaped structures behind the first ceratal clusters are I guess what you describe as 'gills'. They are in fact the egg sacs of a parasitic crustacea living in the body cavity of the aeolid. Have a look at the messages attached to the opisthobranch parasite page for more information

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Apr 16). Comment on Another Flabellina from the French Mediterranean by François Zylberman. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20872

Factsheet

Flabellina affinis

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