Fiona pinnata from Sth Africa

July 21, 2007
From: Colin Ogden

Hi Bill,
Thanks so much for the many responses recently, and also for the copy of the paper on the feeding on sponges. Recently one of my skippers, Eben Louw, picked up a piece of plastic floating out on the ocean and found this little creature attached to the plastic. He kept the little fellow to show me. I think it is the same creature that you have on the forum as either a Cuthona or a Eubranchus.

I notice that there has been no correspondence on this so I thought I would send in a message.

Locality: Sodwana Bay, surface, South Africa, Indian, 30 March 2007, open ocean inside bay. Length: 4mm. Photographer: Colin Ogden.

This find probably won't add anything to our knowledge of this nudibranch, even distribution might not be of value, because the plastic might have come from anywhere.
regards
Colin

scubaco@iafrica.com

Ogden C. M., 2007 (Jul 21) Fiona pinnata from Sth Africa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20258

Dear Colin,
I am not sure which animal you are referring to. It's a good idea if you are referring to a Forum message to use it number [this one is #20258] which you can find on the url address of the message or from the citation footnote on each page.

Your animal is quite interesting. It is Fiona pinnata which spends its life on floating objects in the ocean - floats, wood, plastic etc - and feeds on goose barnacles. Have a look at the Fact Sheet. One characteristic feature is the white wrinkled blade along the upper edge of each ceras which you can see in the close-up alongside. Another is the position of the anus above the cerata about halfway down the right side [see white ring]. I am not sure what the purpose of the wrinked blade on the cerata is. The other thing you can see in your photos is the dark brown branching pattern on the body. That is the branching of the digestive gland ducts, which connect the digestive gland in each ceras, to the stomach.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jul 21). Comment on Fiona pinnata from Sth Africa by Colin Ogden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20258

Factsheet

Fiona pinnata

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