Spurilla neapolitana from Portugal

August 5, 2005
From: Ana Maria Rodrigues

Dear Bill,
To accompany my message on Hypselodoris villafranca [#14470], here is one from Portugal that I can't identify.  Using the sea slug forum it is most similar perhaps to Aeolidiella alderi (????). So I would like to ask for your help

Locality: Viana do Castelo (Praia do Norte), Portugal. tide pools - 1 m (intertidal). Length: 3 cm. 08 May 2005. Photographer: Victor Quintino

Ana Rodrigues

anarod@bio.ua.pt

Rodrigues, A. M., 2005 (Aug 5) Spurilla neapolitana from Portugal. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14467

Dear Ana,
This is a nice addition to the Forum. It is Spurilla neapolitana, an aeolid in the same family as Aeolidiella alderi, but one with a particularly interesting way of life. It is one of the group of species which I have described as solar-powered because they 'farm' microscopic plants [zooxanthellae] in their tissues. Have a look at the various pages on the Forum describing this symbiosis. Please thank Victor for this nice photo. I have very few photos of this species from the European side of the Atlantic so this is a valuable addition. In the close-up alongside, the dark shadow in the base of the head tentacles [oral tentacles and rhinophores] are branches of the digestive gland containing zooxanthellae. In 'solar-powered' species the digestive gland branches to all parts of the body in contact with sunlight, to maximise the area available for photosynthesis. The large swelling in the middle of the back - near the bottom of the photo - is the pericardial swelling which contains the heart. If you look carefully in most aeolids you can see the heart pumping away.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Aug 5). Comment on Spurilla neapolitana from Portugal by Ana Maria Rodrigues. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14467

Factsheet

Spurilla neapolitana

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