Discodoris confusa
Ballesteros, Llera & Ortea, 1985
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Dorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Warm water Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea
PHOTO
Locality: Bodrum, 10, Turkey, Aegean Sea, 19 August 2005, Rocky area. Length: 5 cm. Photographer: Patrice Francour.
Large pale brown dorid with scattered with irregularly shaped brown patches of varying intensity, some very dark brown almost black. There can allso be irregular white patches as well. This species was for some time considered identical to the Indo-West pacific D. lilacina but is now considered a distinct species. The mantle skirt is relative wide but relatively thin, lacking a distinct muscle layer. There are relatively elongate papillae scattered over the mantle, but they spaced from one another about a diameter apart. Another similar species from the Mediterranean, Discodoris maculosa Bergh, 1877, is said to differ on details of the reproductive system and in the shape and arrangement of the mantle papillae, which in D. maculosa and cone-shaped - with a rounded tip - and closely packed all over the dorsal surface.
Originally described from the Canary Islands, it will probably prove to have a wider distribution in the warm water eastern Atlantic - Mediterranean region. it is however confused in the published records with D. lilacina and D. maculosa.
-
Ballesteros, M., Llera, E.M., Ortea, J.A. (1985) Revision de los Doridacea (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) del Atlantico Nordeste atribuibles al complejo maculosa-fragilis. Bolletino Malacologico, 20: 227-257.
Rudman, W.B., 2006 (November 29) Discodoris confusa Ballesteros, Llera & Ortea, 1985. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/discconf
Related messages
Discodoris maculosa ? from Turkey
November 30, 2006
From: Patrice Francour
I took this picture in Turkey, along the Aegean coast, close to Bodrum during the summer 2005. I tried to identify this species and I found Discodoris maculosa Bergh 1884.
I would like to confirm (or to correct) this identification and to know if this species was previously known in Aegean sea.
Locality: Bodrum, 10 m, Turkey, Aegean Sea, 19 August 2005, Rocky area. Length: 5 cm. Photographer: Patrice Francour.
Thanks in advance
Patrice Francour
francour@unice.fr
Francour, P., 2006 (Nov 30) Discodoris maculosa ? from Turkey. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16705
Dear Professor P. Francour,
I think this is Discodoris confusa. As far as I can see it has not been reported from the Mediterranean Sea before, but there has been considerable confusion in the past between Discodoris fragilis/lilacina and Discodoris maculosa and this species. Discodoris maculosa was described by Bergh from specimens from Naples and is thought to look more like the specimen currently on the forum as Discodoris cf. lilacina but these species need to be critically compared.
Best wishes,
Bernard Picton
