Another Tularia bractea from New Zealand?

September 11, 2007
From: Ian Skipworth

Hi Bill

These two photographs are of two different slugs taken on different dives but are fairly clearly the same animal. They have me a bit confused because they look similar, apart from colour, to slugs which I have been calling Cuthona scintillans and also bear some resemblance to Flabellina albomarginata which are fairly common at the Poor Knights at the moment.

I will also post photos of these other slugs for comparison.

Locality: Poor Knights Islands, 12 metres, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean, 26 August 2007 , Rocky reef. Length: 9 mm. Photographer: Ian Skipworth.

Your comments would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Ian

ianskip@xtra.co.nz

Skipworth, I.R., 2007 (Sep 11) Another Tularia bractea from New Zealand?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20677

Dear Ian,
I am glad you were puzzled by this animal and the green ones in your other message [#20678], otherwise we might never have seen your photos. I am pretty sure you are right in thinking these animals and the green ones in your earlier message are the same species, and I suspect that it is Tularia bractea. What I would really need to confirm it is a photo of the front end, so I can see whether the front corners of the foot are rounded or tentacular. In your green animal [message #20678] the tentacular foot corners are very visible, and without knowing anything of the anatomy of your animals, it would be a valuable way of confirming that its Tularia. Any photo - even if everything else is out of focus - would be welcome.

Both these slugs have fine brownish spots all over the skin, something which is apparently absent from the greenish ones.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Sep 11). Comment on Another Tularia bractea from New Zealand? by Ian Skipworth. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20677

Factsheet

Tularia bractea

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  2. Tularia bractea from New Zealand
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  3. Tularia bractea from New Zealand
    From: Ian Skipworth, September 11, 2007
  4. Cuthona scintillans from New Zealand
    From: Ian Skipworth, November 8, 2005

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