Re: Food of Marionia blainvillea

October 24, 2001
From: Helmut Zibrowius

Dear Bill,
To accompany my message on gorgonian food of Tritonia nilsodhneri here are my comments on Marionia blainvillea.

• The two lower photos in Bielecki's message show the slug on what seems to be Leptogorgia sarmentosa (Esper, 1789). For a more comfortable identification of the host gorgonian, it would be preferable to see a larger part of the colony. This affirmedly is not Eunicella verrucosa. That other species also occurs in the Mediterranean, but is white and has a very different texture. Leptogorgia sarmentosa has been called Lophogorgia sarmentosa in older publications, but according to Grasshoff (1992) it should be placed into the genus Leptogorgia.
• The gorgonian in Miquel Pontes' message identified as "Lophogorgia" is correct but now placed in the genus Leptogorgia. It is also Leptogorgia sarmentosa.
• Concerning Baki Yokes' interesting finds in Turkey. The paper he refers to must be:
Demir M., 1952-1954. Bogaz ve Adalar sahillerinin omurgasiz dip hayvanlari [The invertebrate benthos of the Bosporus and of the litoral of the sea of Marmara closer to the Bosporus; in Turkish]. Hidrobiologi arastirma enstitusu yayinlarindan, 3: viii + 615 + 14 p., 235 fig., 15pl.

The gorgonians in his photos are very interesting and the fauna of the eastern Mediterranean is not very well known. I cannot say anything sensible about their identity without further examination, so I will contact Baki directly.

Reference:
LI> Grasshoff M., 1992. Die Flachwasser-Gorgonien von Europa and Westafrika (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 149: 135pp.

Helmut Zibrowius
Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille Station Marine d'Endoume
Marseille
France

hzibrowi@com.univ-mrs.fr

Zibrowius, H., 2001 (Oct 24) Re: Food of Marionia blainvillea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5510

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