Natural history of Acteon eloiseae

Dear Shelley,
I have just made an Acteon eloiseae Page since I knew we had a specimen in the collection donated by Dr Bosch and his wife Eloise, after whom the species is named. I am afraid we know nothing about the living animal other than it has been found only at Al Masirah Id, off the coast of Oman, Arabian Sea. I would agree with Tucker Abbott's comments in his original description that it very similar to Maxacteon flammea and it is much more likely that it will turn out to be a Maxacteon than an Acteon.

From my studies of living Pupa and Maxacteon I would guess that A. eloiseae is a shallow burrower in sand or sandy mud, and almost certainly feeds on polychaete worms. In my experience, very few Bubble Shells regurgitate their food unless they are being plunged into some nasty liquid like alcohol or formalin. Species of Philinopsis are the only Bubble Shells I know that regularly regurgitate their prey naturally. They feed on other Bubble Shells, and tend to regurgitate the whole shells of their prey after they have digested out the animal - probably less painful than sending it out via the intestine.

Concerning their sexual inclination. All opisthobranchs are hermaphrodite. The few acteonids that have been studied seem to develop the male part of their system before the female part - a process called protandry. I would be interested to know why you are interested in this particular species. Have you been attracted by its beautiful shell, or have you found it living somewhere?

One last note. I note you spelt its name 'eloisae' and on checking through the web I see it is often misspelt this way. The spelling used by Abbott was 'eloiseae'.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman