Eubranchus rustyus
(Marcus, 1961)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Superfamily: AEOLIDINA
Family: Eubranchidae

DISTRIBUTION

Vancouver Is, British Columbia to Punta Abreojos, Baja California, Mexico

PHOTO

Locality: Scott Creek, Santa Cruz County, Intertidal, California, USA, NE Pacific, 12 June 2006, Rocky shore. Length: 7mm. Photographer: Jeff Goddard.

Marcus (1961) described this species from preserved specimens and gives the following very brief description of the living colour from collector's notes: "The living animals were white to translucent with pink cerata". Behrens (1980) describes the animal as "white with small yellow-white dots. Rhinophores, cerata, and oral tentacles are tipped with white and all three have subterminal bands of brown to green. the inflated cerata have tubercles in 2 or 3 bands and their cores are green to brown. Often occurring in dense localized blooms on the hydroids Obelia and Plumularia. To 25 mm".

Also from Jeff Goddard's message [#17539]
" Compared to the sympatric E. rupium (= E. olivaceus), this species lacks flecks of red-brown and opaque white on the body, and instead has irregular blotches and flecks of olive green on both the body and foot. Also, the digestive gland ducts are plainly visible through the body wall of E. rupium, but not in E. rustyus. Eubranchus rustyus feeds on species of Plumularia and also lacks the tentaculate foot corners of E. misakiensis."

  • Behrens, D.W. (1980) Pacific Coast Nudibranchs. A guide to the Opisthobranchs of the Northeastern Pacific. Sea Challengers. Los Osos, California. 112 pp.
  • Marcus, Er. (1961) Opisthobranch mollusks from California. Veliger, 3 (suppl): 1-85.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (July 31) Eubranchus rustyus (Marcus, 1961). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/eubrrust

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