First record of Thecacera pacifica from Caribbean!

March 10, 2006
From: Joyce Burek

Have there been any reports of Thecacera pacifica in the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico. I photographed them March 3rd at Stetson bank in the Flower Garden Banks NMS in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 98 ft.

Locality: Stetson Bank of Flower Garden banks NMS, 98 ft., Texas, USA, Gulf of Mexico, 03 March 2006, hydroid covered bottom. Length: 1.5 inches.. Photographer: Joyce Burek.

Joyce Burek

jfburek@consolidated.net

Burek, J.W., 2006 (Mar 10) First record of Thecacera pacifica from Caribbean!. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16063

Dear Joyce,
As far as I know this is the first record of Thecacera pacifica from the Atlantic, all previous records being from the tropical Indo-West Pacific. I have also looked through earlier records from the Atlantic and can find no similar animal being reported under any name. I can only assume that like quite a few other polycerids [including Polycera hedgpethi, Polycera capensis, Thecacera pennigera] this species makes use of shipping to travel far from its home territory.

Since most nudibranchs have very specialised food requirements, successful translocations like this are dependent on suitable food being present in the new locality. In some cases the food is also a 'tramp' species, but in other cases it appears that a local species, often closely related to the 'real' food species, can be used. It is possible that the bright orange bryozoan colony at the bottom of your photo is the food of Thecacera.

It looks as though your two animals are mating. This could well mean that the Caribbean has a new permanent member of its fauna.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Mar 10). Comment on First record of Thecacera pacifica from Caribbean! by Joyce Burek. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16063

Factsheet

Thecacera pacifica

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