Flabellina iodinea and mimic

July 2, 2000
From: Jeff Goddard


Hi Bill,

Here is a photo by Todd Huspeni of a Flabellina iodinea collected subtidally in Santa Barbara County, California, USA, along with some information on this exquisite aeolid for The Forum.

I have also enclosed a photo by Mike Behrens (Dave's son) of the amphipod crustacean mimic of the aeolid. The amphipod was collected from Diablo Canyon, San Luis Obispo County, in central California.

This color variety of the amphipod crustacean Podocerus cristatus mimics Flabellina iodinea in central California (Gosliner & Behrens, 1990). Another color variety of this same amphipod mimics Flabellina trilineata on the central Oregon coast.

Reference: Gosliner, T.M. & D.W. Behrens. 1990. Special resemblance, aposematic coloration, and mimicry in opisthobranch gastropods. Pp. 127-138 [In] M. Wicksten (ed.) Adaptive coloration in invertebrates. Texas A & M University Sea Grant Program: College Station, Texas, USA.

Best wishes,
Jeff

Goddard@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Goddard, J., 2000 (Jul 2) Flabellina iodinea and mimic. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2641

Dear Jeff,
I don't know why you Californians bother leaving home. You certainly have some of the most spectacularly coloured nudibranchs around! I have out most of your information on the species page. I had forgotten about F. iodinea getting its red/orange pigment from its food. A fascinating story.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Factsheet

Flabellina iodinea

Related messages

  1. Re: Flabellina iodinea mating
    From: Jonathan S. Klenk, August 19, 2009
  2. Re: Flabellina iodinea feeding
    From: Roger Carlson, May 16, 2007
  3. Flabellina iodinea from Bahia California
    From: Natasja Vandeperre, May 16, 2007
  4. Flabellina iodinea feeding
    From: James Lyle, February 2, 2007
  5. Re: Flabellina iodinea mating
    From: James Lyle, September 17, 2005
  6. Re: Flabellina iodinea mating
    From: James Lyle, September 15, 2005
  7. Flabellina iodinea laying eggs
    From: Chris Menjou, September 23, 2003
  8. Flabellina iodinea feeding on hydroids
    From: Bruce Wight , August 5, 2003
  9. Flabellina iodinea from California
    From: Chris Grossman, July 31, 2003
  10. Flabellina iodinea mating
    From: Gaby Chavez, March 22, 2003
  11. Spanish Shawl Nudibranch
    From: Chase Walden, February 6, 2003
  12. Spanish Shawl Dancer
    From: Anna, November 20, 2001
  13. Reproduction in Flabellina iodinea
    From: Jennifer , October 31, 2001
  14. Flabellina iodinea laying eggs
    From: Michael D. Miller, August 6, 2001
  15. Flabellina iodinea from California
    From: Daniel Geiger, August 3, 2001
  16. Flabellina iodinea
    From: Brett Maton, April 20, 2001

Show factsheet and all related messages