Cuthona cf. caerulea from Florida

July 25, 2007
From: Linda Ianniello


Dr. Bill, here are images of two more Cuthona cf. caerulea from our area. Just for you, one of the images shows feeding behavior.

Locality: Lake Worth Lagoon, 10 feet, Florida, USA, Atlantic Ocean, 8 July 2007, Intertidal. Photographer: Linda Ianniello.

Regards,
Linda I.

lindai1@bellsouth.net

Ianniello, L.M., 2007 (Jul 25) Cuthona cf. caerulea from Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20202

Thanks Linda,
I see it is again on some sort of stinging hydroid - perhaps Aglaophenia? Without knowing something of its anatomy I can't be sure, but as I said in answer to your earlier message [#16637] it certainly looks different in colour and ceratal arrangement from Cuthona caerulea. I see in Caribbean Sea Slugs it is identified as C. caerulea and it is on the same species of hydroid as your animals. Usually aeolids that feed on stinging hydroids like Aglaophenia are specialist feeders, eating only stinging hydroids. From the literature I can see no reports of true C. caerulea from Europe feeding on such hydroids.

It would be interesting to compare the anatomy of 'true' C. caerulea with your species.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jul 25). Comment on Cuthona cf. caerulea from Florida by Linda Ianniello. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20202

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Cuthona cf. caerulea

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