Cuthona destinyae
Hermosillo & Valdes, 2007
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Tergipedidae
DISTRIBUTION
It is known from Iztapa-Zihuatanejo, Pacific coast of Mexico to Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands.
PHOTO
Locality: Zihuatanejo, 0 feet, Guerrero, Mexico, tropical eastern Pacific, 19 March 2004, On encrusting hydroids on floating objects, boats, pier. Length: 8 mm. Photographer: Ali Hermosillo.
The body is translucent clear with a series of large dark patches along the midline of the notum and on the head. These patches appear greenish but are composed of a dense aggregation of small spots which range in colour from green to black. There are similar dark patches on the sides of the body below the cerata. Scattered all over the body are opaque white specks, which are much more numerous in the lighter parts of the body. The ducts of the digestive gland in the cerata are brown. The ceratal wall is translucent with scattered opaque white specks, and a dark greenish median band. The smooth tapering rhinophores are translucent with scattered white specks in the basal third, then a dark median band of blackish blotches, and an upper third which is opaque white. It is been previously reported as Cuthona sp. 1 (Hermosillo & Behrens, 2005), Cuthona sp. 2 (Camacho-Garcia et al, 2005; Hermosillo et al., 2006) and Cuthona sp. 4 (Behrens & Hermosillo, 2005)
It grows to at least 6 mm in length.
- Behrens, D.W. & Hermosillo, A. (2005) Eastern Pacific Nudibranchs. A guide to the Opisthobranchs from Alaska to Central America. Sea Challengers, Monterey. 1-137.
- Camacho-Garcia, Y., Gosliner, T.M. & Valdes, A. (2005) Field Guide to the Sea Slugs of the Tropical Eastern Pacific. California Academy of Sciences.
- Hermosillo, A. & Behrens, D.W. (2005). The Opisthobranch fauna of Mexican States of Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero- Filling in the faunal gap. Vita Malacologia, 3: 11-22.
- Hermosillo, A., Behrens, D.W. & Jara, E.R. (2006) Opistobranquios de Mexico. Conabio. 143 pgs.
- Hermosillo A. & Valdés, A. 2007. Five new species of Aeolid nudibranchs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific. American Malacological Bulletin, 22: 119-137, 13 text figures, 1 color pl.
Rudman, W.B., 2007 (August 1) Cuthona destinyae Hermosillo & Valdes, 2007. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/cuthdest
Related messages
Cuthona destinyae from the tropical eastern Pacific
August 2, 2007
From: Ali Hermosillo
Dear Bill,
Because we can read all the morphological (both external and internal) characteristics of a given species, I thought that I would give you the story behind this species instead.
"Destiny " is the name of the boat of dear friend Steve Drogin, who has been most supportive of my work. During the winter of 2004 we dove in murky cold water from Isla Isabel, Nayarit to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.
While in Zihuatanejo, Dave Behrens and I jumped in the water for a regular dive and he saw there were egg masses on the hydroids that had grown on the hull of Destiny. We ended up finding this undescribed Cuthona and we thought the perfect name for it was Cuthona destinyae.
It is known from Iztapa-Zihuatanejo, Pacific coast of Mexico to the Galapagos Islands.
Locality: Zihuatanejo, 0 feet, Guerrero, Mexico, tropical eastern Pacific, 19 March 2004, On encrusting hydroids on floating objects, boats, pier. Length: 8 mm. Photographer: Ali Hermosillo.
Cheers!
Ali
gueri25@hotmail.com
Thanks Ali,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
