Nembrotha milleri & Nembrotha sp 14

July 14, 2002
From: Mary Jane Adams


Hi Bill,
I think Nembrotha milleri and Nembrotha sp. 14 are the same animal. I have photographed about a dozen of these dark green slugs at the same divesite (Baby Cakes, aka Velvia) in the Solomon Islands in the past three years. My photos already on the Forum are from November, 1999. I photographed more of them in Nov. 2000 and Nov. 2001. Most of these Nembrotha are so dark that I have to overexpose the picture to see any detail. By last year I had learned to look for the lighter colored specimens. The attached images are from Nov. 2001. Bruce Potter's picture from last November also seems to be a lighter colored slug.

When I spread all my slides out on the light table I can see tubercles with dark centers on most of the specimens. However, it is difficult to see the tubercles in the darker specimens and they seem to flatten out when the animals are crawling. I should also point out that I have changed film. The images from 1999 were shot on Fuji Velvia and the current ones are on Kodak VS 100 film. I have not looked at the radula either, but suspect that the slug Bernard photographed in Tanzania is N. milleri. That would be quite a range extension!
Best regards,
Mary Jane

divepng@yahoo.com

Adams, M J., 2002 (Jul 14) Nembrotha milleri & Nembrotha sp 14. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6973

Thanks Mary Jane,
I think the black centres in the pustules are in fact pores through which nasty chemicals are exuded on to the skin. Other species with longitudinal ridges and grooves seem to have similar pores hidden all along the grooves. I tend to agree that the Tanzanian animal is probably the same species, but the pustules tend to be uniformly black, rather than green with a black centre. I have moved Bernard's message on to the Nembrotha milleri page not because I am particularly in favour of 'lumping' them together, but because I suspect it will get forgotten if it is left alone on a Nembrotha sp. 14 Page. Cheers,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Jul 14). Comment on Nembrotha milleri & Nembrotha sp 14 by Mary Jane Adams. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6973

Factsheet

Nembrotha milleri

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