Aplysia punctata mating

August 20, 2007
From: Jim Anderson


Dear Bill,
The pair were found along with several others at or around 16 metres on the reef. No sign of any spawn yet. Water temp 13 degC

Locality: Fith of Lorne, 16 m , Scotland, NE Atlantic, 12 August 2007, rocky reef. Length: 100 mm - larger. Photographer: Jim Anderson.

Kindest regards,
Jim A

jander4454@gmail.com

Anderson, J., 2007 (Aug 20) Aplysia punctata mating. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20472

Dear Jim,
Thanks for these nice photos. For those interested in anatomical bits and pieces - in the close-up alongside we can see in the top animal (which is acting as the male), a groove running from inside the right flap [parapodia] down along the side of the head, below the eye. This is the sperm groove [sp] which carries sperm from the genital opening, which is hidden behind the right parapodia, down to the penis [p]. In this photo the penis is extended out into the genital opening of the lower animal (which is acting as the female).

Another interesting feature is the colour pattern. Some of the large white patches on the parapodia are surrounded by small white spots, each ringed in dark brown. These are remarkably similar to markings on some animals from Senegal in Marina Poddubetskaia's photos [#9803; 10382] which I tentatively identified as A. parvula. It looks like these Senegalese animals are really Aplysia punctata, and would mean that Aplysia vistosa Pruvot-Fol, 1953 - also from from Senegal, which Eales (1960) dismissed as an 'unidentifiable juvenile', is this species as well.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 20). Comment on Aplysia punctata mating by Jim Anderson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20472

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