Elysia sp. 5.

Order: SACOGLOSSA
Superfamily: ELYSIOIDEA
Family: Elysiidae

PHOTO

Intertidal, under stone, 8mm length, April, 1999. Kerama Island, Japan. PHOTO: Atsushi Ono.

See message below.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (September 21) Elysia sp. 5. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/elyssp5

Related messages


Elysia from Kerama Island

June 3, 1999
From: Atsushi Ono

Dear Bill,
Could you help me with another opisthobranch from Kerama Island, near Okinawa.

I think this is an Elysia sp.
Intertidal, under stone, 8mm length, April, 1999. Bottom of a bay.

Sincereiy,
Atsushi Ono

ononini@cosmos.ne.jp

Ono, A., 1999 (Jun 3) Elysia from Kerama Island. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/907

Dear Atsushi,
As with the small chromodorid, I think this 8mm long animals is also a juvenile. It is an elysiid of some sort, and my feeling is that it is possibly a juvenile of Elysia abei Baba, 1955. In adults, Elysia abei, which grows to 25mm, is sprinkled with orange or orange red spots and the rhinophores and tail are tipped with black.

I have not seen Elysia abei alive, so I am relying on written descriptions and drawings in the many publications of Dr K. Baba. In 'Opisthobranchs of Sagami Bay' (1949) he identified specimens which he later named Elysia abei, with the Atlantic species Elysia viridis and the orange spots are certainly reminiscent of that species.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Note added Sept 21, 1999: See Shigeru Hayashi's message about the real Elysia abei.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Jun 3). Comment on Elysia from Kerama Island by Atsushi Ono. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/907