Onchidoris depressa from Orkney, U.K.

November 30, 2009
From: Ian Smith

Concerning message #22812:

Dear Bill
As requested, here is a European specimen of Onchodoris depressa. I'm afraid the scanner hasn't made a very good copy of the 34 year old transparency. Thompson & Brown 1984 state "The mantle is so translucent that the eyes and the glistening calcareous spicules may be discerned with a lens". The spicules show well in my picture, especially over the dark gut.

Locality: Houton, Orkney, intertidal, Scotland, U.K., North Atlantic, 26 April 1975, rocky shore. Length: 5 mm. Photographer: Ian F. Smith.

The Korean pictures don't show the spicules as well and the slug seems less translucent, but this may be due to differences in photography; the brown substrate does show slightly through its mantle.

I sent specimens for confirmation to Tom and Greg, and this may be the 5 mm Orkney specimen they described the radula of in their 'Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs' Vol 2. Ray Society, London 1984.

Best wishes
Ian

ifsmith@bethere.co.uk

Smith, I. F., 2009 (Nov 30) Onchidoris depressa from Orkney, U.K.. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22866

Dear Ian,

Thanks for this photo. I think in photos, the clarity of the spicules is enhanced by the darkness of the digestive gland in the animal. Certainly the spiculation I have seen in animals from this part of the world, when looking under a microscope, match photos and drawings I have seen of European specimens.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Nov 30). Comment on Onchidoris depressa from Orkney, U.K. by Ian Smith. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22866

Factsheet

Onchidoris depressa

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