Hypselodoris tricolor, on Cacospongia

November 3, 2008
From: Sylvain Le Bris

Concerning message #17160:

Dear Bill,

This picture shows Hypselodoris tricolor feeding on Scalarispongia scalaris. In your description you say this species only feeds on Dysidea.

You can find other pictures on this site :

http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche2.asp?fiche_numero=205

Locality: Farillons, 30m, France, Mediterranean sea, 18 september 2007. Photographer: Sylvain Le Bris.

Sylvain Le Bris

lebris.sylvain@gmail.com

Le Bris, S., 2008 (Nov 3) Hypselodoris tricolor, on Cacospongia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22011

Dear Sylvain,

Thanks for this very interesting photo and the link showing other records of this species on the thorectid sponge Cacospongia. Until now the only species of Hypselodoris reported to feed on a thorectid was the other blue mediterranean species Hypselodoris orsinii. In Ortea et al (1996) H. tricolor is reported to feed on Dysidea avara, and Baki Yokes message from Turkey [#5338] seems to show it feeding on a species of Dysidea.

In an earlier message [#14085] you posted a photo showing one H. tricolor and one H. orsinii on Cacospongia, which I commented as being rather strange, wondering if the H. tricolor had been added to the photo. Clearly it hadn't.

While it is possible that H. tricolor feeds on both Dysidea and Cacospongia, a more likely situation is that records of it feeding on Dysidea are a misidentification of the nudibranch. I have looked carefully at Baki Yokes' photo and it is possible that the species is not H. tricolor as there does not seem to be a white or yellow edge to the upper part of the gills. It is possibly H. fontandraui but I am afraid I find parts of Ortea, Valdes & Garcia-Gomez's review confusing, so I cannot be sure. I guess this is why there has been considerable confusion in working out just what sponges these Mediterranean species of Hypselodoris feed on. It seems at least that H. tricolor joins H. orsinii in feeding on the thorectid sponge, Cacospongia, rather than species of the Dysideidae, which Hypselodoris normally feeds on.

If anyone can help re-identify the animals in Baki Yokes' message [#5338] I would be most grateful.

• Ortea, J., Valdés, A. & García-Gómez, J.C. (1996) Revisión de las especies atlánticas de la familia Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) de grupo cromático azul. [Review of the Atlantic species of the family Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) of the blue chromatic group.] Avicennia, 1996, Suppl. 1: 1-165.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Nov 3). Comment on Hypselodoris tricolor, on Cacospongia by Sylvain Le Bris. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22011

Factsheet

Hypselodoris tricolor

Related messages

  1. Hypselodoris tricolor from Brittany
    From: Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat, September 9, 2009
  2. Hypselodoris tricolor feeding
    From: Antoni López-Arenas i Cama, September 4, 2009
  3. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor, on Cacospongia
    From: M. Baki Yokes, April 3, 2009
  4. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor on Cacospongia
    From: Vincent Maran, November 4, 2008
  5. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor on Cacospongia
    From: Philippe Perrier, November 4, 2008
  6. Hypselodoris tricolor, on a sponge
    From: Stephane Ores, July 19, 2006
  7. Strange structure on Hypselodoris tricolor
    From: Dominique Horst, June 28, 2006
  8. Hypselodoris tricolor - feeding ?
    From: Kerem Turker, June 21, 2006
  9. Re: Another Hypselodoris from Portugal
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia Ossokine, April 26, 2006
  10. Re: Another Hypselodoris from Portugal
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, April 26, 2006
  11. Another Hypselodoris from Portugal
    From: David Abecasis, April 24, 2006
  12. Hypselodoris tricolor or H. fontandraui
    From: Sylvain Le Bris, June 24, 2005
  13. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor from Croatia
    From: Adam Petrusek, October 8, 2003
  14. Hypselodoris tricolor from Croatia
    From: Adam Petrusek, October 7, 2003
  15. Hypselodoris tricolor or H. bilineata from Turkey
    From: Ferda Buyukbaykal, July 26, 2003
  16. Hypselodoris tricolor from French Mediterranean
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, June 24, 2002
  17. Hypselodoris tricolor from Spain
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino, October 29, 2001
  18. Juvenile of Hypselodoris tricolor from Spain
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino, October 29, 2001
  19. More photos of Hypselodoris tricolor
    From: Luis SánchezTocino, October 29, 2001
  20. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor? from Italy
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, September 28, 2001
  21. Hypselodoris tricolor? from Turkey
    From: Baki Yokes, September 28, 2001
  22. Hypselodoris tricolor or H. midatlantica
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, February 15, 2001
  23. Hypselodoris tricolor from Spain
    From: Alma Sánchez, February 14, 2001
  24. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor?
    From: Roberto Moresco, January 27, 1999
  25. Re: Hypselodoris tricolor
    From: Erwin Koehler, January 22, 1999
  26. Hypselodoris tricolor? from Italy
    From: Roberto Moresco, January 21, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages