Cuthona puellula
(Baba, 1955)
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Tergipedidae
DISTRIBUTION
Japan
PHOTO
Hachijo Island, Japan, April-May 2002, approx. 10m. Approx 10mm long. Photo: Shouichi Kato.
Baba's description was based on a single specimen, 10mm long. The cerata are arranged in oblique rows and the anterior foot corners are rounded. The body is a translucent yellowish straw colour. The digestive gland in the cerata are blackish and there can be white markings or spots on the ceratal wall. The most distinctive feature of the species seems to be a single orange spot on the outside of each ceras, about a third the way down from the tip. The tip is yellowish. In the painting accompanying Baba's description there is a V-shaped mark on the dorsal surface between the cerata. The upper half of V is black while the lower (closed) half is orange.
Reference:
• Baba, K. (1955) Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay, Supplement. Iwanami Shoten: Tokyo. 59pp., 20 Plates
Rudman, W.B., 2002 (July 11) Cuthona puellula (Baba, 1955). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/cuthpuel
Related messages
First record of Cuthona puellula from Australia
April 19, 2008
From: Gary Cobb
Concerning message #7493:
Hi Bill and everyone!
I am please to announce, with a positive ID from Richard Willan, two Cuthona puellula found here on the Sunshine Coast off Mooloolaba, sthn Queensland at a dive site called Shellacey Reef. The two animals were found trailing each other.
We used out microscope to get a great look at these beautiful animals. It is like they are sprinkled with sugar dust!! The brilliant orange anterior band is a give away. The two animal we found have very vivid white lines on the ceras and faint orange spots.
Locality: Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, 18 m, Queensland, Australia, Pacific Ocean, 21 March 2006. Length: 4 mm. Photographer: Gary Cobb.
As far as we know this find is a new record for Australia, previously only known from Japan. This find make our species list a total of 336.
Cheers,
Gary Cobb
gary@nudibranch.com.au
Cobb, G.C., 2008 (Apr 19) First record of Cuthona puellula from Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21468
Dear Gary,
This is indeed an interesting find. Even without the faint orange spots visible on a few of the anterior cerata I would have agreed with Richard's identification. I am posting some photos today from Japan [see Ayumi Murakami's message #20894 ] which lack the orange markings on the cerata, so it looks like this could be a normal part of the variation in this species.
I don't know of any other record outside of Japan. That of course doesn't necessarily mean it has just arrived in Australia. The small size and the irregular appearance of tergipedids means that their geographic distribution is poorly known in many parts of the world, and will remain so unless there is much more diligent and systematic collecting.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Re: Is this Cuthona puellula ?
April 19, 2008
From: Ayumi Murakami
Concerning message #7493:
Dear Bill
I had found five individuals that had the same peculiarity, but I don't know what they are. At first that I had found it, I thought this was Cuthona puellula, however there are not any red or orange spots on the cerata.
What do you think?
I'm sending you three photos of two individuals.
Locality: Futou Beach,West IZU pen, 3m, Shizuoka prefecture,Japan, Pacific Ocean, 28 October 2006,30 September 2007, Rock wall. Lengths: Upper right, lower left - 5 mm; Lower right - 2.5 mm. Photographer: Ayumi Murakami.
Ayumi Murakami
umiushi2@masea.info
Dear Ayumi,
Although your animals don't have the red or orange spot on each ceras I would say it is the same species. Perhaps your animals are still too small to have developed their full colour pattern or perhaps they are a variant. Certainly the rest of the colour pattern, with the red lines on the rhinophores and the white lines on the cerata fit Cuthona puellula. Although it was named many years ago, it takes a long time for us to build up the full picture of each species so its possible that forms without the red-orange spot are quite normal for the species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Re: Cuthona puellula from Hachijo Japan
July 26, 2002
From: Nishina Masayoshi
Dear Bill,
I agree with your opinion, it is Cuthona puellula Baba, 1950. I have attached a photo which J. Imamoto took and we identified as C. puellula.
Data: 11 July,2002
Loc. Echizen coast, Fukui pref. Japan.
Length: 6mm, depth: 4m
water temp: 23C degree.
Always,
Nishina Masayoshi
nishina@wips.co.jp
Masayoshi, N., 2002 (Jul 26) Re: Cuthona puellula from Hachijo Japan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7579Thanks Nishina,
Bill Rudman
Re: Cuthona puellula from The Japan Sea
July 26, 2002
From: Shigeru Hayashi
Dear Bill,
Thanks for quickly removing my message about Cuthona puellula. It would have been confusing to leave it on the Forum. To clarify the species further here is the original drawing used in Abe (1964). In that book it is described as:
'Cephalic tentacles and rhinophores orange-yellow. The root of the tentacle orange-yellow. The branchial papillae with orange-yellow marking on surface at about the middle of their length. Their veins of the branchial papillae dark brown and a white attenuate vertical line on the surface.'
We have decided to ask Dr. Hamatani to examine the other animal.
• Abe, T. (1964) Opisthobranchia of Toyama Bay and adjacent waters. Hokuryu-kan, Tokyo. 99pp., 36 Plates.
Best wishes.
Shigeru Hayashi
jr9dsx@tko.fitweb.or.jp
Hayashi, S., 2002 (Jul 26) Re: Cuthona puellula from The Japan Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7585Thanks Shigeru,
It is very useful to see this painting as in the published work this image is printed in shades of grey.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Cuthona puellula from Hachijo Japan
July 18, 2002
From: Shouichi Kato
Dear Bill,
We have been able to see this animal at Hachijo Island, Japan, since this April, under rocks depth in 10m. Usually smaller than 10mm in size. I'm not sure but it looks like a kind of Cuthona.
Please advise.
Thanks and best regards,
S.Kato
regulus@edit.ne.jp
Kato, S., 2002 (Jul 18) Cuthona puellula from Hachijo Japan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7493Dear Shouichi,
I am pretty sure this is Cuthona puellula. Your photo looks very similar to the painting in Baba (1955). In the painting, some of the cerata have white longitudinal lines and the digestive gland is painted as a series of black dots, just as in your photo. The orange spot on each ceras is also a prominent feature of this species. I think I can see part of the orange V mark between the first group of cerata as well. I am curious about the shape of the rhinophores. Would you have a photo showing them more clearly. They should be smooth and tapering.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Re: Cuthona puellula from the Japan Sea
July 18, 2002
From: Bill Rudman
I recently posted a message from Shigeru Hayashi about Cuthona puellula from The Japan Sea. Shigeru thinks he may have misidentified the photos and has asked me to remove the message to avoid unnecessary confusion.
Bill Rudman
