Flabellina from Turkey

January 2, 2005
From: Elif Özgür

Dear Bill

Are all of these specimens in the photos Flabellina affinis or is it too hard to distinguish these species?

They are all from Turkey, Mediterranean Sea. [Photos: Ferda Büyükbaykal]

Elif Özgür

eozgur@istanbul.edu.tr

Özgür, E., 2005 (Jan 2) Flabellina from Turkey. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12853

Dear Elif,
Your photos are all of aeolid nudibranchs but they are three different species. Most aeolid species can be identified externally if we can see the colour and shape of the live animal, details of the the rhinophores and shape and arrangement of the cerata, and details of the head and foot. If there is doubt we would need to look at the internal anatomy to be sure, which is a bit beyond what we can do on the Forum. But in most cases, species can be identified from good photos. I would need larger scans than the ones you sent this time. I would also need to have some more information on the location the animal was found. I also need to know, if the photographer is not you, who the photographer is and whether you have permission to send the photo to the Forum.

In this message the upper right photo is probably Flabellina affinis but could be Flabellina ischitana. The lower left photo is probably Cratena peregrina, but it would be useful to see a photo which showed the head more clearly, so that I could see if the orange spots this species usually has on the head are there. The lower right photo is almost certainly Flabellina rubrolineata, which you will see from earlier messages on the Forum is a Red Sea species which has entered the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.

If you have better scans you would like me to check, could you send each species as a separate message and include more details on where and when the species was photographed

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jan 2). Comment on Flabellina from Turkey by Elif Özgür. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12853

Factsheet

Flabellina ischitana

Related messages

  1. Flabellina ischitana laying eggs
    From: Dominique Horst, July 30, 2008
  2. Flabellina ischitana from French Mediterranean
    From: François Zylberman, April 16, 2008
  3. Flabellina ischitana also at lunch time
    From: Dominique Horst, June 13, 2007
  4. Could F. ischitana eat C. peregrina eggs ?
    From: Dominique Horst, June 13, 2007
  5. Flabellina ischitana from the Adriatic Sea
    From: Luigi Montevecchi, December 30, 2004
  6. Flabellina ischitana? from French Mediterranean
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, June 29, 2002
  7. Re: Flabellina pedata and others? from Turkey (2)
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, October 28, 2001
  8. Re: Flabellina pedata and others? from Turkey (3)
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, October 28, 2001
  9. Flabellina pedata and others? from Turkey (2)
    From: Baki Yokes, October 27, 2001
  10. Flabellina pedata and others? from Turkey (3)
    From: Baki Yokes, October 27, 2001
  11. Re: Flabellina ischitana from nthn Spain
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, March 23, 2001
  12. Flabellina ischitana from nthn Spain
    From: Bernard Picton , March 19, 2001
  13. Re: Flabellina ischitana
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, July 9, 1999
  14. Re: Flabellina ischitana
    From: Erwin Koehler, July 8, 1999
  15. Flabellina ischitana
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, July 7, 1999
  16. Flabellina ischitana
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, June 19, 1999
  17. Re: Mystery from Holland
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 5, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages