Nembrotha cristata from Solomon Ids
August 3, 2000
From: Mary Jane Adams
Dear Bill,
Here is a picture of Nembrotha cristata on a possible prey item (UPPER PHOTO). The other image shows the same nudibranch from a different angle. Is it my imagination or does this slug have two complete sets of gill plumes?
Crawling length 50 mm
Depth 10 meters
Divesite="Baby Cakes", aka "Velvia" (same reef as images of N. milleri) Florida Group, Solomon Islands, November, 1999
Regards,
Mary Jane
mjadams@earthlink.net
Adams, M.J., 2000 (Aug 3) Nembrotha cristata from Solomon Ids. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2805Dear Mary Jane,
Thanks for the great photos. It certainly looks like it has 2 sets of gills in your photos. The dorid nudibranchs are divided into two Superfamilies, the Anadoridoidea (Phanerobranchia) and Eudoridoidea (Cryptobranchia), the names in parentheses being alternative names for the groups. These alternative names are based on the major external character, the Eudoridoidea having gills which can retract and hide in a special gill pocket, while the Anadoridoidea have 'naked gills' with nowhere to hide.
Nembrotha belongs to the Anadoridoidea and the gills do not retract into a pocket. When smaller there are usually three main trunks but as they grow each trunk branches. At the same time the basal attachment point of each trunk to the blood supply begins to move apart as the animal grows. Eventually the three main trunks appear to be three separate branching gills. There is usually a major gill in the midline just in fromt of the anal papilla and a smaller gill on each side, just behind the anus. I suspect in your photos the left posterior gill in the upper photo is hidden because of the angle of the photo. In the lower photo I think I can see one branch of the posterior right gill just behind the left posterior gill.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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