Flabellina? from Norway

April 25, 2003
From: Kåre Telnes

Hi!
I found several individuals of this aeolid, looking a little like Flabellina verrucosa, which is quite common along the Norwegian coast. However, some details seem to differ:
• Shorter cerata, not organized in the traditional two rows.
• A naked patch on the back.
• Some eggs found on the location, laid in circles. (I am assuming they were laid by these individuals).

They vere found on a current exposed location, near Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. The location is a steep rocky slope, and the depth 25 meters. The individuals were 20-25 mm long.[17 April 2003].

Can anyone help me identify them, please?
Kåre Telnes

kaare.telnes@online.no

Telnes, K., 2003 (Apr 25) Flabellina? from Norway. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9742

Dear Kåre,
This is an interesting find. You wouldn't by chance have have a photo showing the front of the foot more clearly? In the smaller animal in the upper photo it looks like the front edge of the foot could have the front corners extended into pointed 'angles', but I am not sure. I first thought this might be a species of Cuthona, but in that genus the anterior foot corners are rounded. The egg ribbon, if it does belong to these animals, could certainly be that of a Flabellina. In your lower right photo the animal is eating what seems to be a large solitary hydroid - perhaps a Tubularia.

The closest I can come to an identification is a painting of Henning Lemche's of an animal from Jutland, Denmark (Just & Edmunds, 1985), which the authors, suggest is an aberrant form of F. verrucosa. Like your animals, the cerata are short and inflated, and are arranged in a pattern of triangles down the body with bare patches down the dorsal midline. Even the colour is almost identical. Unfortunately, Just & Edmunds only had Lemche's painting, no accompanying notes could be found, and no anatomical information. They suggested it was probably 'unhealthy when painted' which certainly doesn't seem to apply to your animals.

I may be wrong, but it doesn't look like F. verrucosa to me. Hopefully some of our northern European colleagues will have some suggestions.

• Just, H. & Edmunds, M. (1985) North Atlantic Nudibranchs (Mollusca) seen by Henning Lemche. With additional species from the Mediterranean and north east Pacific. Ophelia, Supplement 2: 1-149.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Apr 25). Comment on Flabellina? from Norway by Kåre Telnes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9742

Factsheet

Flabellina verrucosa

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