Pleurobranchaea inconspicua from Cozumel, Mexico
March 4, 2005
From: Jim Lyle
Here's an image of Pleurobranchaea inconspicua Bergh, 1897 taken on a night dive off the coast of Cozumel Island, Mexico. It differs from the image posted by Anne DuPont [message #5115 ], having a netted pattern rather than spots on the mantle.
Locality: Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Caribbean. Depth: 5 meters. Length: 12 mm. 08 August 2004. sand. Photographer: Margaret Webb.
Jim Lyle
jlyle@scubadiving.com
Lyle, J.L., 2005 (Mar 4) Pleurobranchaea inconspicua from Cozumel, Mexico. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13265Dear Jim,
Your photo looks very like Dave Behren's photo [message #8155] from Belize. It certainly is a species with a caudal spur [spine on tip of foot]. As I said in earlier comments, this form seems to fit P. hedgpethi which is considered a synonym of P. inconspicua. I guess what we need to do now is to compare the anatomy of animals of each of the two colour forms, and to try and find some intermediate colour forms. Which is the sort of thing we need to do with most species of Pleurobranchaea.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
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Pleurobranchaea hedgpethi from Belize
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Re: Pleurobranchaea cf. inconspicua
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Pleurobranchaea inconspicua? from Florida
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