Cumanotus beaumonti feeding

April 20, 2010
From: Dominique HORST

Dear Bill,

These photos suggest that Cumanotus beaumonti feeds on Tubularia (T. indivisa). As in the case of Facelina annulicornis which is supposed is feeding on the same hydroids, I did not capture an actual act of feeding. Doubts are still there but if this is not their food, what else could it be?

Locality: Cagnes, 8m, France, Mediterranean sea, 17 April 2010, sand. Photographer: Dominique Horst.

Kind regards,
Dominique

dominique.horst@wanadoo.fr

Dear Dom,

If you look at the earlier messages this Cumanotus has almost always been associated with athecate hydroids. To my untutored eye they all look tubularian to me [Tubularia sp, Ectopleura sp], and although you didn't actually catch them in the act of feeding, the regular association with these hydroids and the dark orange-red pigment in the ceratal digestive gland matching the colour in the hydroid polyps is pretty close to conclusive evidence.

Bernard Picton has reported that C. beaumonti in the British Isles feeds on the hydroid Corymorpha nutans. This is another athecate hydroid from the same Order as Tubularia.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Apr 20). Comment on Cumanotus beaumonti feeding by Dominique HORST. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23523

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Cumanotus beaumonti

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