Aegires ortizi
Templado, Luque & Ortea, 1987

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Aegiretidae

DISTRIBUTION

Caribbean region [known only from Cuba and the Bahamas]

PHOTO

Upper right: [darker specimen] 5.5mm. On Cladophora, intertidal on a seawall at Treasure Cay, Abaco, Bahamas. 18 June 1997. Lower left: Ventral view of darker specimen. Lower right: [light colour form]. 5mm. On attached Sargassum in 1m at Scotland Cay, Abaco, Bahamas. 29 June 1996. Photos: Colin Redfern.

This species is known only from the original description, based on a single specimen from Cuba, and Redfern's account (2001) of specimens from the Bahamas. Templado et al (1987) describe the colour as "creamy yellow with minute white punctae in the region of the tubercular rows ... dark brown spot on the top of each tubercle, and ... some oval rounded spots of this colour ... distributed over the dorsum" The tubercles are described as 'more or less conical '

Redfern's description, based on many specimens shows that this species is quite variable in colour, with some specimens with noticeable brown spots and others with no indication. Of particular interest is the variability in the shape of the tubercles. Templado et al described them as 'more or less conical' but Redfern's photos here show that the shape can range from conical to mushroom shaped, with a flattened top in a single individual. flattened quite heavily suggesting that the tubercles can change shape as described for other species of Aegires [message #14229 ]. In the paler animal spicules are visible projecting from the tip of some tubercles. In the original description a brown spot was described from the tip of each tubercle. A trace of this can be seen in the paler animal, but this is only apparent when the tubercles are in their conical phase.

• Redfern, C. (2001) Bahamian Seashells: a Thousand Species from Abaco, Bahamas. BahamianSeashells.com, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida. 280 pages. 
• Templado, J., Luque, A. A., & Ortea, J. (1987) A new species of Aegires Loven, 1844 (Opisthobranchia; Doridacea; Aegiretidae) from the Caribbean Sea: Aegires ortizi spec. nov., with comparative descriptions of the North Atlantic species of this genus. The Veliger 29: 303-307.

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