Berthellina from French Atlantic

October 11, 2002
From: Erwin Koehler

Dear Bill,
here is a photo from Bassin d'Arcachon, Atlantic coast of France by Michel Barrabés Email: m.barrabes@libertysurf.fr

He labelled it Berthellina engeli, but following the recent discussion on Berthellina this one should be B. edwardsii or an undescribed one? It also looks very much like Berthella aurantiaca (Risso, 1813) from the Mediterranean Sea (IDed by several scientists)

It's size is 1,5 - 2 cm, depth was 8 m,
31 Oct. 1998 during a night dive at "Balguerie"
Erwin

erwin@medslugs.de

Erwin Koehler, 2002 (Oct 11) Berthellina from French Atlantic. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8086

Dear Erwin,
As Lucas Cervera has said in the previous discussion it is probably impossible to identify this group of species in the Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic, solely from photographs. The size of the internal shell can be used to separate Berthella and Berthellina, but to identify animals to the species level probably requires a look at the internal anatomy. Because this has only recently been realised it means that most earlier identifications of the orange-yellow Berthella & Berthellina group in the Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic are suspect. Because of this, we can't use earlier records to determine the geographical range of each species because we can't rely on their identifications - no matter how many scientists.

I have asked Lucas Cervera for his opinion. See his separate comments.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Oct 11). Comment on Berthellina from French Atlantic by Erwin Koehler. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8086

Factsheet

Berthellina edwardsii

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