Bornella anguilla from Queensland
February 7, 2002
From: Carle Parkhill
Bill,
Is it normal to see so many mantles on a Nudibranch? Shot taken on Flinders Reef, off Moreton Island, [Queensland, Australia] at a depth of six meters.
Carle Parkhill
carlesam@kawana.aunz.com
Parkhill,C., 2002 (Feb 7) Bornella anguilla from Queensland. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5796Dear Carle,
When you mention 'mantles' I guess you are referring to the set of 'cerata' or 'dorsal processes' down each side of the body. This sort of structure occurs in many different nudibranchs and related sea slugs. True cerata are found in the aeolid nudibranchs and if you have a lok at the page I have highlighted you will see they have quite an important function in those animals. In species of Bornella they don't have the same defensive function but they usually have a number of gills attached to them so I guess bretaing and gas exchange is an important function.
As to what is a mantle? In shelled snails the mantle is a specialised flap of skin that produces the shell. In shell-less slugs that function is a bit superfluous, but its a name given to the skin on the back of the slug. It seems from studies of the embryo that it is indeed part of the ancestral mantle, but we often just refer to the back of a slug as the 'dorsum'. Both terms often appear in the same paragraph.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
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