Re: Flabellina? from Norway

April 30, 2003
From: Kåre Telnes

Thanks for responding to my message so promtly. I am sorry, I do not have any pictures showing the front of the foot clearly. The best I can do is the images attached. I hope they are to any help.
Regards
Kåre Telnes

kaare.telnes@online.no

Telnes, K., 2003 (Apr 30) Re: Flabellina? from Norway. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9807

Thanks Kåre,
I've included you close-up of the cerata alongside as they show the shape of the cerata very well. From Jussi's response you have brought to life a dispute which began about 1832. about whether the animals with short cerata and the animals with long cerata are one or two species. Over the years it has become even more confused by many more names given to animals which are probably the same as one or other of these 'species'. I haven't diligently follwed the argument in the scientific literature so I can only presume that anatomically the two forms are very similar. What your closeup of the head region does show is just how rounded the anterior corners of the foot are in this short cerata form. As I discuss in Jussi's message, this seems to be quite a substantial difference.

What would be interesting would be to see if they have any natural history differences. Some species of Flabellina change from feeding on one group of hydroids to another during the year so food differences may not be a simple thing to look at. Another observation that might be useful would be to look at their egg masses. It is quite possible that their egg spirals might be of a different shape or even their eggs could be markedly different in size. If you would like a little project it would certainly be worth trying to photograph the egg ribbons of the two 'forms' ideally as they are laying them. There may be no marked difference, but it would be exciting if there were,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W,B., 2003 (Apr 30). Comment on Re: Flabellina? from Norway by Kåre Telnes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9807

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