Tambja gratiosa? from North Carolina

July 19, 2005
From: Herb Segars

I photographed this pair of nudibranchs more than ten years ago off the coast of North Carolina on a shipwreck named the Caribe Sea. I am new to your forum and I really would like to id them. Are they Hypselodoris edenticulata.

Locality: Moorehead City, North Carolina, USA. Atlantic Ocean. Depth: 55 feet. Length: 2 inches. 1992 shipwreck. Photographer: Herb Segars

Thanks for your help.
 Herb Segars

hsegars@gotosnapshot.com

Segars, Herb, 2005 (Jul 19) Tambja gratiosa? from North Carolina. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14281

Dear Herb,
This is an interesting find - although 10 years in coming to light. It is not a Hypselodoris but rather a polycerid nudibranch. It could belong to Nembrotha, Tambja or Roboastra, but to be sure what genus your animals belong to we would really need to look at their internal anatomy. Two species have been described from the western Atlantic and it could possibly be Nembrotha gratiosa Bergh, 1890, but he didn't give enough data on the external colour to be sure. In a very recent paper,  Marta Pola and others [2005] mention that 'Tambja gratiosa is light yellowish with random round grey-green spots on the back and sides'  so it is possible that is the identity of your animal. Hopefully Marta will let us know. My only doubt is the very long oral tentacles we can see in your photo, which remind me more of a Roboastra than a Tambja.

  •  Pola, M.P., Cervera, J. L. & Gosliner, T.M. (2005). A new species of Tambja (Nudibranchia: Polyceridae: Nembrothinae) from southern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association, U.K.,   85, 979-984.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jul 19). Comment on Tambja gratiosa? from North Carolina by Herb Segars. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14281

Factsheet

Tambja? gratiosa

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