Re: Cumanotus from Slovenia

April 12, 2005
From: Marina Poddubetskaia

Dear Bill,
Concerning the 'Cumanotus from Slovenia' message [#13477]: I don't think Cumanotus cuenoti is a synonym of Cumanotus beaumonti but a full, very distinctive species with the characteristic brown pattern on the posterior part of the body. For 9 months now I live in Bordeaux and I dive regularly in Arcachon Basin. It is a wonderful place for opisthobranchs. This winter, the presence of Cumanotus cuenoti was very brief :  I saw them for less than one month, in February. Maybe it's why they are considered as rare.

Locality: : 'Hortense', Cap Ferret, Arcachon Basin, France, Atlantic coast . February  2005. Size : 6-9 mm .Depth : 5-6 m. on their food Ectopleura dumortieri. Photographer: Marina Poddubetskaia

Please, have a look at my page about it for more photos:
http://www.nembro.info/uk_cumanotus_cuenoti.html
 
Best wishes,
Marina.

nembro@nembro.info

Poddubetskaia, M., 2005 (Apr 12) Re: Cumanotus from Slovenia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13507

Dear Marina,
Thanks for this valuable information Marina. All I knew about this species was Pruvot-Fol's original description (1948), based on a single animal, and Tardy and Gantes' (1980) paper redescribing it and reporting on some aspects of its biology. In fact their line drawings of an animal on the hydroid Ectopleura look very like some of your photos. At present Arcachon is the only place this species has been reported.

The brown markings you say are very distinctive are in fact the ducts of the digestive gland which can be seen through the almost transparent body wall. Certainly it seems to differ externally in the much smaller rhinophores and lack of oral tentacles. Internally the radular teeth have fewer denticles than C. beaumonti.

What we need to know is whether these differences are age related. I realise the small C. cuenoti lay egg ribbons and so are mature, but many nudibranchs begin egg laying while still very small. It is certainly an interesting puzzle and certainly worth keeping in  mind next time any one finds these animals again.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Apr 12). Comment on Re: Cumanotus from Slovenia by Marina Poddubetskaia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13507

Factsheet

Cumanotus cuenoti

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