Flabellina verta
(Marcus, 1970)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Flabellinidae

DISTRIBUTION

Caribbean and tropical west Atlantic from Cananeia, Brazil to Florida, USA.

PHOTO

Upper:  West Palm Beach, Florida, approx 1 inch long, 12 feet of water,  19 March 2000 showing 2 colour variations. Photo: Anne DuPont. Lower: West Palm Beach, 20 feet, Florida, USA, Atlantic, 14 November 2007, Intertidal, strong tidal flow, on orange Eudendrium sp. Length: 1 cm. Photo: Anne DuPont.

Previously on Forum as Flabellina sp. 2.

Animal translucent with the whitish to orange colour of the internal organs showing through the body wall. There is a median white line along the body which splits just in front of the rhinophores with a branch going out along each oral tentacle. There is also a white line along each side of the body just below the cerata running from the base of the oral tentacles to the posterior tip of the foot. The cerata have a white tip, and in some animals the ceratal wall is scattered with small opaque white spots. The digestive gland ranges in colour from dark reddish brown to red or orange. There is a distinct brim around the notal edge and the slender tapering rhinophores are smooth. The cerata are arranged in clusters along each side off the notum with one precardiac cluster on each side and 4-6 postcardiac clusters.

This relatively small species, growing to approximately 12 mm in length was first described from Cananeia, Brazil. It was described as having smooth rhinophores and the cerata arranged in about 6 groups down each side. In colour they were described as "whitish with opaque transverse bands on the rhinophores. and longitudinal lines on the [oral] tentacles which unite forming a triangle between the rhinophores. There are some white spots on the cerata ..."

Anne DuPont [message #2199] and Millen & Hamann (2006) show some variability in the colour pattern, particularly concerning the presence of white spots on the cerata, the extent of the white lines on the body and the colour of the cerata digestive gland.

• Marcus, E. (1970) On some opisthobranchs from Cananeia, Brazil. Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras. Universidade de Sao Paulo, Zoologia 27: 207-228 .
• Millen, S. V. & Hamann, J.C. (2006) A New Nudibranch Species, Genus Flabellina (Opisthobranchia: Aeolidacea) from the Caribbean with redescriptions of F. verta (Marcus 1970), and F. dushia (Marcus and Marcus, 1963). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57: 925-936.

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