Cuthona? from Nova Scotia

August 16, 2002
From: Alan Shepard


Dear Bill -
I've attached a photo I recently took while diving an artificial reef, the HMCS Saguenay off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is one I have not encountered before.

I believe it a species of Cuthona but I'm not sure which. I went through Bernard Picton's web site, Nudibranchs of the British Isles but couldn't come up with a 100% positive ID. By the way I just ordered the Picton book to further assist me in my pursuit of northern Atlantic nudibranchs.

The nudibranch in question was found at a depth of approximately 20m. It was approximately 6mm long or so. The area it was found in does get strong currents. On the site itself I found approximately 9 species of nudibranchs. Most I had seen and photographed before. The other new find for me was Doto coronata. Unfortunately the photo of that nudibranch did not turn out well.

Regards,
Alan Shepard

alan.chepard@snet.net

Dear Alan,
I suspect this is probably Facelina bostoniensis but without a better idea of the rhinophores and body colour pattern that is a bit of a guess. Flabellina nobilis has white-tipped cerata like this, but the cerata in that species are more crowded along mantle edge. Hopefully Bernard or some other local expert can help us out. Is that a caprellid amphipod on the top left of the hydroid colony? I usually give up looking for aeolids if they are on a colony, they don't seem to be able to co-exist.
Cheers,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Aug 16). Comment on Cuthona? from Nova Scotia by Alan Shepard. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7786

Factsheet

Dendronotus sp. 2

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    From: Bernard Picton, September 24, 2002

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