Cuthona? from Nova Scotia
August 16, 2002
From: Alan Shepard
Dear Bill -
I've attached a photo I recently took while diving an artificial reef, the HMCS Saguenay off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is one I have not encountered before.
I believe it a species of Cuthona but I'm not sure which. I went through Bernard Picton's web site, Nudibranchs of the British Isles but couldn't come up with a 100% positive ID. By the way I just ordered the Picton book to further assist me in my pursuit of northern Atlantic nudibranchs.
The nudibranch in question was found at a depth of approximately 20m. It was approximately 6mm long or so. The area it was found in does get strong currents. On the site itself I found approximately 9 species of nudibranchs. Most I had seen and photographed before. The other new find for me was Doto coronata. Unfortunately the photo of that nudibranch did not turn out well.
Regards,
Alan Shepard
alan.chepard@snet.net
Dear Alan,
I suspect this is probably Facelina bostoniensis but without a better idea of the rhinophores and body colour pattern that is a bit of a guess. Flabellina nobilis has white-tipped cerata like this, but the cerata in that species are more crowded along mantle edge. Hopefully Bernard or some other local expert can help us out. Is that a caprellid amphipod on the top left of the hydroid colony? I usually give up looking for aeolids if they are on a colony, they don't seem to be able to co-exist.
Cheers,
Bill Rudman
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Re: Cuthona? from Nova Scotia
From: Bernard Picton, September 24, 2002
