Facelina bilineata from Hachijo Is., Japan
May 15, 2002
From: Nishina Masayoshi
Dear Bill,
When I turned over a stone, I found this animal. I suspect this animal belong to Phidiana. The rhinophores have edged annuli like a screw. I suspect the orange sponge is the food for the animal.
Date:2002 April 21
Location: Hachijo Island Japan
Depth: 6m
Length: 10mm
Photo by N.Chikako
Best Regards,
Nishina Masayoshi
http://umiushi.zive.net/index.html
nishina@wips.co.jp
Masayoshi, N., 2002 (May 15) Facelina bilineata from Hachijo Is., Japan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6837
Dear Nishina,
This is Facelina bilineata. Your animal looks almost identical to the colour painting published by Baba (1935) of an animal from Mutsu Bay that he considered to be a variety of his Cuthona (Hervia) quadrilineata (Baba, 1930) [= Facelina quadrilineata]. It is only very recently that Hirano & Ito (1998) have shown that this is a distinct species. Have a look at the page comparing the development of these two very similarly coloured sympatric species -Facelina bilineata and Facelina quadrilineata.
The characteristic colour lines of this species can range from this bright orange to a quite dull brown.
• Baba,K (1935): Report on the biological survey of Mutsu Bay (27). Nudibranchia of Mutsu Bay. Science Reports of the Tohoku Imperial University, series 4, Biology 10(2, August), 331-360. (Pls.5-7)
• Hirano, Y.J. & Ito, M. (1998). 'Facelinella quadrilineata' (Baba, 1930), a pair of cryptic species of Facelina from Japan. Zoological Science, 15: 791-797.
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Facelina bilineata from Japan
From: Nishina Masayoshi, May 16, 2002