Re: Elysia from Gulf of Mexico
October 9, 2002
From: Kathe R. Jensen
Dear Anna & Bill,
My first thought when I saw this Elysia was that it was E. canguzua (another Marcus species), but I have to admit that I cannot quite remember what it looked like. We found it on Codium, I think in Fort Pierce Inlet, but only one time did we collect more than one specimen. I remember watching it feeding by almost swallowing a utricle of the Codium before the cell wall was pierced and the utricle collapsed. But apart from this I don't remember much about it.
About E. patina: Kerry Clark and I found something that we identified as this species in Florida. It is dull greyish green and has the two distinct white spheres shown on Marcus' figure, and which we now know are secondary copulatory bursae, i.e. structures formed after copulation and sperm transfer through hypodermic impregnation. This species was found on Penicillus spp. and Udotea, and the colour of the animal was very similar to the dull green of these partially calcified algae. However, we also spent a lot of time discussing the difference between this species and E. papillosa and maybe one other species feeding on Penicillus.
Best wishes,
Kathe
jensen@ait.ac.th
Jensen, K.R., 2002 (Oct 9) Re: Elysia from Gulf of Mexico. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8144Thanks Kathe,
I had a look at Marcus's description of E. canguzua so I've decided to put this on a Elysia cf. canguzua page. I have included some details from the Marcus description there. It certainly agrees on the blue and red spots, but lacks the proportionally large rhinophores and black pigmentation described by Marcus. Mind you, the difference may be the result of intraspecifc variation, but we will only know that when the species is more adequately described from Brazilian populations.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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Elysia from Gulf of Mexico
From: Anna L. Bass, October 8, 2002
