Re: Aplysia cervina from Brazil

February 1, 2007
From: Carlos Meirelles

Concerning message #19350:

Dear Bill,
We´re keeping this specimen in a tank and it really swims. Most of the time it is crawling on the substrate but if disturbed, it begins swimming all over the tank.

Carlos Meirelles

cameirelles@gmail.com

Meirelles, C., 2007 (Feb 1) Re: Aplysia cervina from Brazil. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19358

Note added 9 Feb 2007: see message #19409 showing this is a colour form of Aplysia brasiliana.

Thanks Carlos,

Certainly sounds as though it is a swimmer. Are you familiar with Aplysia brasiliana? It is always possible that A. cervina is a spotted form of that species. The anatomical differences are not great, and since we know so little about A. cervina it is possible it is just a colour form of this common species. I note that there are quite a few published papers on aspects of the physiology and DNA of A. cervina,  but since its identity seems so problematic, I wonder how these researchers have been identifying their animals? While looking for some photos on the web I found an abstract outlining research by Sara Black at Texas A&M University, Galveston where she reported anatomical, DNA evidence and reproductive behaviour suggesting A. brasiliana, A. cervina and A. fasciata are all the same species. I certainly suggested A. brasiliana and A. fasciata were probably the same [message #12545], so it would be interesting to see what Sara discovered. I am trying to contact her to see if her results are to published.

One possibility would be for you to introduce a specimen of typical A. brasiliana into the aquarium with A. cervina and see if they will mate.  It would also be useful way to compare their external shape and movement to see if there are any obvious differences, such as parapodial size, shape of rhinophores and oral tentacles, length of 'tail' etc. If you have two living animals together it should be quite easy to see major differences in shape and proportion.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Feb 1). Comment on Re: Aplysia cervina from Brazil by Carlos Meirelles. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19358

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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