Tambja? gratiosa from NW Florida

July 22, 2005
From: Carol Cox

Dr Rudman,
You are welcome to use my photo mentioned in your earlier message [#14292]. It's very similar to the NC slug [#14281 ] but I'm not convinced it's the same; however, I'll leave that up to you experts. The slug I photographed has white circles around the larger blue spots. I realize that is not always an indicator of species; the slug was only about 1/2 inch long, so maybe it was a juvenile and hadn't grown into it's mature coloration. We have moved down the coast about 75 miles, and although that is a short distance away, the bottom structure here is very different with no natural reefs. We haven't been able to locate another one of these slugs for identification.

Locality: Found and photographed on a sponge on a natural limestone reef about 4 miles out of the Destin Pass, Destin, NW Florida, Gulf of Mexico. About 1/2 inch long  Photo: Carol Cox

Thanks,
Carol Cox

ccox@mchsi.com

Cox, C., 2005 (Jul 22) Tambja? gratiosa from NW Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14312

Dear Carol,
Thanks very much for the photo. You are right to mention the white rings around the blue spots, but the spots are the tips of pustules, and the white 'rings' are the basal part of the pustules. In the Nth Carolina animals the basal part of the pustules are a translucent dirty yellow. All things are possible, but I would think the difference is 'within species' variation. What your photo shows very clearly is the nature of the oral tentacles. Their elongate and enrolled structure is found, until now, only in the genus Roboastra. As I said before this does not sit well with Bergh' description of the radula teeth.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jul 22). Comment on Tambja? gratiosa from NW Florida by Carol Cox. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14312

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