Scientific Publications

July 23, 2007
From: Alicia Hermosillo

Dear Bill,

I have to tell you that this is a great idea!

In this paper, Angel and I describe 5 new species of aeolids from the tropical eastern Pacific.

• Hermosillo A. & Valdés, A. 2007. Five new species of Aeolid nudibranchs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific. American Malacological Bulletin, 22: 119-137, 13 text figures, 1 color pl.

I am going to take a little time to tell you a story. I do most of my field work with Pedro Medina, a biologist who specializes in corals but has learned a lot about nudibranchs, we work great together. At the beginning of this year, he bought a Nightsea system to help him find the coral recruits at night, and since we are always diving together, I did too. Our surprise was that under those lights, we are able to find nudibranchs we never imagined. Totally cryptic critters, which I had only seen a handful in my 5 years of PhD research we found countless (I am not exagerating) in one night dive under the lights. Needless to say, this works wonders inside sea caves too. Photographing fluorescent effects is easier said than done, and let´s just say that because we are still too excited about what we see during the night dives, it is hard to take the time from "discovery" and turn in into playing around with the camera... anyways, In the abovementioned paper, we describe Cuthona millenae, with only 2 specimens which were found throught many years. This species flouresces neon yellow, and it happens to be rather abundant. I am keeping a list of those species I have found to be fluorescent and hopefully one day I will be able to photograph most of them.

Kind regards
Ali

gueri25@hotmail.com

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