Spurilla neapolitana from Saint-Tropez

August 26, 2005
From: Benjamin David-Testanière

Hi,
First sorry for my English ... I'm french photographer who is photographing some sea animals through the water.  Recently I have had on my website http://www.bdt-photos.com a sea slug picture.

Locality: Saint-Tropez, la pointe de Capon, France ( département du Var, 83 )  Mditerranean sea. Depth: 20 centimètres. 03 April 2005. Photographer: Benjamin David-Testanière

There was three specimens under a stone. I have put one of them on the stone for the picture.

Can you help me to identify it ?
Thanks to all !
Benjamin David-Testanière

bdt@bdt-photos.com

David-Testanière, B., 2005 (Aug 26) Spurilla neapolitana from Saint-Tropez. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14609

Dear Benjamin,
This is Spurilla neapolitana. I see from your website you are partial to the beauty of orchids.  Spurilla neapolitana is not the most beautiful of nudibranchs, but it has a fascinating biology. It is one of a group that I call 'solar-powered' because they keep small plants alive in their bodies and utilise the sugars the plants produce from photosynthesis. As the plants need sunlight to photosynthesise,  Spurilla has developed a network of thin tubes throughout its skin for the plants to live in. You can see them as dark veins on the head and 'neck' in the lower right close-up. See also an earlier message [#7886] which shows these veins more clearly.

Another interesting feature in the lower right your photo are the purplish sausage-shaped objects on its back. They are the egg sacs of a copepod crustacean which seems to occur not uncommonly on this nudibranch. See also the Fact Sheet on symbiosis and an earlier message from Erwin Koehler [#1428] showing an animal heavily infested with these copepods.

In the lower left close-up, the white tips of the of the cerata can be seen in detail. We can see that the white is an elongate sac inside the ceratal tip which we call a cnidosac, because it stores stinging cells [cnidae, nematocysts] from the sea anemones it feeds on. Have a look at the relevant Fact Sheets for more information. Usually there is just one cnidosac at the tip of each ceras, but your close-up seems to have targetted an animal in which there are two cnidsacs and a bifid tip to most of the cerata.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Aug 26). Comment on Spurilla neapolitana from Saint-Tropez by Benjamin David-Testanière. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14609

Related messages

  1. Re: Sargassum sea slugs in Gulf of Mexico [2]
    From: Kathe R. Jensen, February 23, 2010
  2. Sargassum sea slugs in Gulf of Mexico [2]
    From: Denice Drass, February 22, 2010
  3. Feeding Spurilla neapolitana from Florida
    From: Linda Ianniello, July 25, 2008
  4. Mystery from the Everglades, Florida, USA
    From: Sophia Floyd, July 18, 2008
  5. Spurilla neapolitana predator
    From: Joao Pedro Silva, March 31, 2008
  6. Spurilla neapolitana in Brazil
    From: Daniel Pimpão, January 23, 2006
  7. Mystery from St. Vincent Is, Caribbean [1]
    From: Les Wilk, November 3, 2005
  8. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [7]
    From: Brian Plankis, September 10, 2005
  9. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [6]
    From: Brian Plankis, September 9, 2005
  10. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [5]
    From: Brian Plankis, August 30, 2005
  11. Identity of Brian Plankis's anemone-feeding aeolid
    From: Bill Rudman, August 30, 2005
  12. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [4]
    From: Brian Plankis, August 25, 2005
  13. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [3]
    From: Brian Plankis, August 20, 2005
  14. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [2]
    From: Brian Plankis, August 11, 2005
  15. Re: Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico [1]
    From: Brian Plankis, August 9, 2005
  16. Aeolidiella chromosoma or S. neapolitana
    From: Nestor E. Ardila E., August 8, 2005
  17. Spurilla neapolitana from Gulf of Mexico
    From: Brian Plankis, August 8, 2005
  18. Spurilla neapolitana from Portugal
    From: Ana Maria Rodrigues, August 5, 2005
  19. Spurilla neapolitana from Mexico
    From: Juan José Alfaro M, June 1, 2005
  20. Re: Phestilla melanobrachia from the Solomon Ids
    From: Andrej Jaklin, July 22, 2004
  21. Anemone-eating slug from Israel
    From: Ami Schlesinger, December 24, 2003
  22. Spurilla neapolitana? from Jamaica
    From: Ross W. Gundersen, October 22, 2003
  23. Spurilla neapolitana from the Bahamas
    From: Colin Redfern, October 22, 2003
  24. Spurilla neapolitana from Portugal
    From: Joao Pedro Tojal Loia Soares Silva, August 21, 2003
  25. Re: Pruvotfolia pselliotes? from Dakar [2]
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, August 12, 2003
  26. Pruvotfolia pselliotes? from Dakar [2]
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 9, 2003
  27. Solar powered sea-slug
    From: Michel Barrabés, September 10, 2002
  28. Solar powered sea-slug (2)
    From: Michel Barrabés, September 10, 2002
  29. Articles about Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Daniel Pimpão, May 31, 2002
  30. Spurilla chromosoma from Colombia
    From: Elianny Dominguez , September 26, 2001
  31. Re: Information on Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Mike Raffa, September 20, 2001
  32. Information on Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Amar Boubes, January 2, 2001
  33. Spurilla neapolitana from Colombia
    From: Phanor Montoya, October 29, 2000
  34. About red aeolid from Brazil
    From: Carlo Magenta-da-Cunha, April 16, 2000
  35. Spurilla neapolitana from Brazil
    From: Carlo Magenta-da-Cunha, April 15, 2000
  36. Re: Parasitic copepods on Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Constantine Mifsud, October 20, 1999
  37. Parasitic copepods on Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Erwin Koehler, October 16, 1999
  38. Spurilla neapolitana from Belize
    From: Dave Behrens, October 12, 1999
  39. Re: Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Constantine Mifsud, September 30, 1999
  40. Spurilla neapolitana from Hawaii
    From: Scott Johnson, September 30, 1999
  41. Re: Spurilla neapolitana photo
    From: Constantine Mifsud, September 29, 1999
  42. Difference between Spurilla and Berghia
    From: Carlo Magenta, September 27, 1999
  43. Spurilla neapolitana
    From: Bill Rudman, September 27, 1999
  44. Spurilla neapolitana - distribution
    From: Orso Angulo, June 5, 1999
  45. Here is a Spurilla neapolitana photo
    From: Erwin Koehler, December 11, 1998
  46. Spurilla? from Brazil
    From: Carlo Magenta, December 10, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages