Noumea cf. nivalis from Japan
August 13, 2001
From: Nishina Masayoshi
Dear Dr.Rudman,
Here are photos of Noumea nivalis to accompany our photos of Noumea subnivalis.
As a general rule we say, that 'Noumea nivalis' with red spots on the back is called Noumea nivalis and that 'Noumea nivalis' without the red spots on the back is called Noumea subnivalis.
Data:
Date:4 Aug 2001
Location:Shibasaki Hayama,Japan
Depth:5m
Size:10mm
Comment:uncommon here
Photo by Chikako.
Best Regards,
Nishina Masayoshi
nishina@hpe15.wips.co.jp
Nishina, M., 2001 (Aug 13) Noumea cf. nivalis from Japan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5020Dear Nishina and Chikako,
I'm afraid this is another puzzle. This animal does not seem to be either N. nivalis or N. subnivalis. As I said before, Baba described N. subnivalis as having the mantle edge bi-colored, with an orange-yellow outer band and an inner yellow band. The rhinophore clubs are reddish purple at the tip and white below. The gills are usually all white but can sometimes have one gill which is yellow-tipped.
The mantle border in this animal appears to be an orange-yellow band broken into a series of elongate marks. The rhinophore club has a bright orange red tip and the gills are colourless. The mantle spots in all photos I have seen of N. nivalis are orange, they are irregular in shape and quite diffuse around the edge. In this animal the spots are a uniformly round and quite red in colour. I would suspect this spevies may be unnamed. It will certainly be necessary to look at its anatomy before we can say nay more about it.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
