Sargassum sea slug

March 21, 1998
From: Dee Owens

I am doing research on the sargussum sea slug and can't find it anywhere.
Can you please give me some references on where to look.
Thanks
Dee Owens
Keller, Texas, USA

rowens1@gateway.net

Owens, D., 1998 (Mar 21) Sargassum sea slug. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/125

Common names are a real problem because there is no 'official list'. What one person calls 'x' another person will call 'y'. You are probably looking for Scyllaea pelagica which is a strange almost transparent nudibranch which lives attached to Sargassum and other floating pieces of brown seaweed. It feeds on hydroid colonies which grow on the weed. It is often associated with the Sargasso Sea fauna, but that is not the only place it is found. There is a good picture of Scyllaea at: http://siolibrary.ucsd.edu/slugsite/pan/pelagica.html.

The whole body of Scyllaea is laterally flattened and when disturbed it can flap its body from side to side in a vigorous 'swimming' movement. Usually it clings tightly to the seaweed with a narrow but very sticky foot. A good picture can be found in Helmet Debelius's recent book, Nudibranchs & Sea Snails (1996, IKAN, Frankfurt).. Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 1998 (Mar 21). Comment on Sargassum sea slug by Dee Owens. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/125

Factsheet

Scyllaea pelagica

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