Re: Sargassum sea slugs in Gulf of Mexico [2]

February 23, 2010
From: Kathe R. Jensen

Concerning message #23257:

Dear Bill,

Reading your answer to Denice's pictures reminded me of something we discussed in Bonn some years ago, namely Bergh's 1861 paper, which describes cnidocysts, or "urticating filaments" (nelde-fiim is an old Danish term, not in use presently). What Bergh actually describes here are the cnidocysts, not the slugs - and I think I said in 2006 that I would translate this paper so people could see that there were no description of nudibranch species (though some genera were briefly described in foot-notes). As for Kröyer describing a nudibranch, that also is not true. Bergh's foot-note on p. 322 states:
"Under the above name an aeolid is found in the Copenhagen zoological museum, which Kröyer has taken in the Sargasso Sea on 23 June 1841. - Ae. sargassi Phil. is Fiona atlantica Bgh., as I have pointed out previously (Contr. to a monogr. of the genus Fiona 1859, p.9)." - My translation.

So the specimen had been collected and labelled (and "named") by Kröyer, but there is no reference to any notes by Kröyer, and hence I think the author should still be Bergh. In 1861 there were no formal rules, and Bergh could "honour" Kröyer's naming the species even if Kröyer had contributed only the name. As for the "species description" my translation is:
"The elongate pear-shaped cnidosac contained rod-shaped urticating filaments of length 0.029-0.04 mm, which were most similar to the small elongate urticating filaments found in Ae. papillosa; more often a fine cottonwool-like ring appeared along the edges of the thread, which often hung out of the filament."
I don't know what you think, but I don't think this constitutes a valid description of a nudibranch. The species was properly described by Bergh in 1871:

  • Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Mollusken des Sargassomeeres. Verhandlungen der könig-kaiserlischen zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 21: 1273-1308, plates 11-13. Species description on pp. 1283-86, plate 13.

The 1861 paper unfortunately contains a long list of "new species descriptions" that are as comprehensive as above. I would like to know if the Nomenclature Commission finds such descriptions valid, because I don't see anything that would enable identification of the species.

Sorry for the long comment.

Best wishes,
Kathe

krjensen@snm.ku.dk

Jensen, K.R., 2010 (Feb 23) Re: Sargassum sea slugs in Gulf of Mexico [2]. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23268

Dear Kathe,

No need to apologise, we need to be aware of these old nomenclatural messes. Bergh was particularly cavalier in his approach to nomenclatural rules and as this example shows l shouldn't have said anything until I had actually sighted the paper. What I was really drawing attention to was the need to cite the name as S. sargassicola (Kroyer in Bergh, 1861) rather than just as S. sargassicola (Kroyer, 1861) because there is no publication by Kroyer in 1861 to find!

Concerning whether Bergh could attribute the authorship of the name to Kroyer. I don't think there is anything wrong in principle with him doing that, but if there is no worthwhile description then you are right in bringing the validity of the name into question.

Thankfully there seems to be general acceptance that the name is a synonym of Spurilla neapolitana so we can just let 'sleeping dogs lie' - at least for now.

One other point to note. In a couple of bibliographies I note Bergh is attributed with an 1862 publication in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science on 'urticating filaments'. On checking that out I see that the publication is in a section entitled TRANSLATIONS and is a summary/commentary in English of Bergh's 1861 paper. I can't find any indication to say who wrote this summary but clearly it shouldn't be cited as Bergh, 1862.

  • Bergh, L. S. R. 1861. [for 1860]. Om Forekomsten af Neldfiim hos Mollusker. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening, Kjöbenhavn, pp. 309-331, pl. 8.
  • Anonymous, 1862. On the existence of urticating filaments in the Mollusca by Dr Bergh. [summary/translation of Bergh, L. S. R. 1861. [for 1860]. Om Forekomsten af Neldfiim hos Mollusker. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening, Kjöbenhavn, pp. 309-331, pl. 8.] Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, new series 2: 274-277.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Feb 23). Comment on Re: Sargassum sea slugs in Gulf of Mexico [2] by Kathe R. Jensen. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23268

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