Re: Cumanotus from Slovenia
April 12, 2005
From: Marina Poddubetskaia
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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
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
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