Tritonia festiva from southern California

December 30, 2006
From: Graham Short

I found this nudibranch on a large rock in 7 m in a high surge area off of Santa Cruz Island. It blended very well with the rock, and I'm unable to identify it as I can't find it in the Californa nudibranch identification books or websites.

Locality: Santa Cruz Island, 7m, California, USA, East Pacific Ocean, 11 November 2006, Rocky reef. Length: 1.5 inches. Photographer: Graham Short .

Cheers,
Graham Short

gashort@mac.com

Short, G.A., 2006 (Dec 30) Tritonia festiva from southern California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19068

Dear Graham,

Looks to me like your specimen is a victim of that heavy surge area. It looks pretty battered. Looking closely at the close-up photo you can see that the tufts along the body margin are clearly those of a Tritonia, and the faintly visible white reticulated pattern on the dorsum, leads me to believe it is Tritonia festiva Bergh, 1894.

Tritonia festiva most common background color is white, but specimens of this species may vary to yellow and even burnt sienna. Your specimen leans towards this end.

Thanks for sharing this,
Dave Behrens

Behrens, D.W., 2006 (Dec 30). Comment on Tritonia festiva from southern California by Graham Short. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19068

Factsheet

Tritonia festiva

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