Feeding Spurilla neapolitana from Florida

July 25, 2008
From: Linda Ianniello

Dr. Bill,

Attached are three images of what I believe is a Spurilla neapolitana feeding - progressively eating an anemone - the photos are arranged in order. The little anemones are quite abundant now so he-she has plenty to feed on.

Hopefully an addition to your collection of "nudibranchs doing something".

Locality: Lake Worth Lagoon, 10 feet, Florida, USA, Atlantic, 19 July 2008, Intracoastal, tidal. Length: approximately 1.5 inches. Photographer: Linda Ianniello.

As always, thank you for your great work with this forum!
Linda Ianniello

lindai1@bellsouth.net

Ianniello, L.M., 2008 (Jul 25) Feeding Spurilla neapolitana from Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21741

Dear Linda,

Thanks very much for the photos and the feeding record. From your photos it looks like the oral tentacles are used a bit like 'hands' wrapping around the anemone to prevent it from escaping. That is certainly what our southern Spurilla, Spurilla australis does. We can easily see in your photos the brown vein-like pattern which is spread throughout the foot and the body wall. This tells us that this is indeed a  'solar-powered' slug, the small veins harbouring brown zooxanthellae from the sea anemones that Spurilla is feeding on.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Jul 25). Comment on Feeding Spurilla neapolitana from Florida by Linda Ianniello. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21741

Factsheet

Spurilla neapolitana

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