Hypselodoris picta from the Adriatic Sea

July 1, 2001
From: Buga Berkovic

Hi!
I have found something which looks very much like the photos on the Forum of Hypselodoris picta & the slug from Florida only it's more green, in fact it is dark green with lot of yellow dots that sometimes form lines. There were six of them together, about 3 meters deep and not more than 15 meters from the coast. Bottom was mostly sand, some rocks, covered with vegetation.

My problem is this: I can't find any literature on it, or whether anything like it has been found in the Adriatic sea, where I've found them. So the most important thing I wish to ask you is if you know do they live here, and if yes - which species.

I'm just an amateur-diver (not yet SCUBA, but soon) so unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera, but I took these animals out and put them in a bucket full of water and took the pictures. I was watching them for 5 days - every day I found them somewhere near the location where I found them the first day. I have total of allmost 35 photos! If needed, I also have a picture of a baby, about 0.6 cm long!

Animals range in length from about 5 cm to around 17 cm when fully stretched (see on the picture!). I found them in south Adriatic near Dubrovnik area (island of Korcula). I hope you can tell me what are they, because I have started to be very interested in them, and I'm even going to try to study marine biology in Vienna so I could professionaly work on them in future! If any more details are needed just say and I'll try to give them to You!

Thanks a lot!
Buga Berkovic
Zagreb
Croatia

bugamatea@yahoo.com

Berkovic, B. , 2001 (Jul 1) Hypselodoris picta from the Adriatic Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4692

Dear Buga,
I am pretty sure your animal is Hypselodoris picta, which is quite variable in colour. However there are quite a few similarly coloured species in the Mediterranean and nearby waters so I think we should wait for confirmation from one of the European workers more familiar with the local fauna. Do all the animals you have found have spots, like in the photos, or do some have lines instead? If there are lined specimens a photo of one of these would be interesting.

We know very little about the basic natural history of these animals so if you were able to find what sponge it was feeding on, and perhaps photograph it, and photograph its egg ribbon, that would be useful. I realise that this may all be impossible, when you are limited to photographing in a bucket, but I am always optimistic.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Jul 1). Comment on Hypselodoris picta from the Adriatic Sea by Buga Berkovic . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4692

Factsheet

Hypselodoris picta

Related messages

  1. Re: Florida nudibranch
    From: Terri Johnson, June 5, 2009
  2. Re: Florida nudibranch
    From: Terri Johnson, June 4, 2009
  3. Feeding Hypselodoris picta in an aquarium
    From: Steven Soskin, August 26, 2008
  4. Hypselodoris picta from Antibes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, August 22, 2008
  5. Hypselodoris picta from Greece
    From: Hans van Rijn, February 29, 2008
  6. Seaslug from Greece
    From: Chris Heerema, October 9, 2007
  7. Hyspelodoris picta from Lanzarote, Canary Islands
    From: Mascha van Delft, August 18, 2007
  8. Mating Hypselodoris picta from Canary Ids
    From: Brian Mayes, August 4, 2007
  9. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Natasja Vandeperre, August 4, 2007
  10. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Natasja Vandeperre, July 16, 2007
  11. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, June 28, 2007
  12. Re: Hypselodoris picta with abnormality
    From: Dominique Horst, June 27, 2007
  13. Hypselodoris picta with abnormality
    From: Dominique Horst, September 2, 2006
  14. Hypselodoris picta from North Carolina
    From: Vlad Pambucol, August 19, 2006
  15. Hypselodoris picta from the Canary Islands [2].
    From: Christian Kowalewski, August 19, 2006
  16. Hypselodoris picta from Canary Islands
    From: Christian Kowalewski, August 19, 2006
  17. Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, June 9, 2006
  18. Hypselodoris picta from Italy
    From: David Shepherd, October 25, 2005
  19. Juvenile Hypselodoris picta from Sorrento. Italy
    From: Fabio Russo, September 16, 2005
  20. Hypselodoris picta from Turkey
    From: Ata Bilgili, July 4, 2005
  21. Re: Hypselodoris picta from Florida
    From: Karen C, March 11, 2005
  22. Hypselodoris picta from Florida
    From: Karen, March 9, 2005
  23. Hypselodoris edenticulata pictures [2]
    From: Bill Rudman, February 3, 2005
  24. Hypselodoris edenticulata pictures [1]
    From: Phillip Gillette, February 3, 2005
  25. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Duncan v Vliet , January 22, 2004
  26. Hypselodoris picta from Spain
    From: Juan, November 17, 2003
  27. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Adam Petrusek, October 7, 2003
  28. Hypselodoris picta from Nth Carolina
    From: Sandy Smith, August 26, 2003
  29. Hypselodoris picta from Israel
    From: Ilan Ben Tov, July 25, 2003
  30. Hypselodoris picta
    From: Chris, May 20, 2003
  31. Hypselodoris picta feeding
    From: Linda Ianniello, March 22, 2003
  32. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Frank Thijssen, December 20, 2002
  33. Thanks
    From: Joel Penland, December 11, 2002
  34. Hypselodoris picta from South Carolina
    From: Joel Penland, December 5, 2002
  35. Hypselodoris picta? from Spain
    From: Isidro Cuallado, October 22, 2002
  36. Hypselodoris picta from the Mediterranean (1)
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 6, 2002
  37. Hypselodoris picta from the Mediterranean (2)
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 6, 2002
  38. Hypselodoris picta from Greece
    From: Fons Sarneel, March 19, 2002
  39. Information on Hypselodoris picta
    From: Joe Helferich, January 31, 2002
  40. Mystery photo of 'Greek Goddess'
    From: Anonymous, December 11, 2001
  41. Hypselodoris picta and sponge
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino , November 7, 2001
  42. Hypselodoris picta from Spain
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino , November 5, 2001
  43. Sea Goddess Nudibranch
    From: Frank Winston , August 25, 2001
  44. Re: Hypselodoris edenticulata from Florida
    From: Maria, July 18, 2001
  45. Hypselodoris edenticulata from Florida
    From: Anne DuPont, July 14, 2001
  46. Possible food source for Hypselodoris edenticulata
    From: Mike Bloss, June 8, 2001
  47. Re: Possible food of Hypselodoris edenticulata
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, June 8, 2001
  48. Can you identify a species & it's diet
    From: Brad Anderson, April 13, 2001
  49. Re: Food of Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, April 4, 2001
  50. Re: Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, April 3, 2001
  51. Food of Hypselodoris picta
    From: Shawna, April 3, 2001
  52. Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, March 23, 2001
  53. Nudibranch - Blue with Yellow Spots
    From: Mark Bass, March 22, 2001
  54. 'Greek Goddess' Sea Slug
    From: Robin, February 8, 2001
  55. Blue chromodorid from the Mediterranean
    From: Erwin Koehler, January 26, 2001
  56. Re: Blue chromodorid from Antibes
    From: Angel Valdes, January 26, 2001
  57. Greek goddess sea slug
    From: Holly, July 19, 2000
  58. Hypselodoris picta & Florida slug
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 1, 2000
  59. Florida nudibranch
    From: Robert Schroff, May 26, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages