Flabellina babai from Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

June 21, 2006
From: Paolo G. Albano

Dear Bill,
Here are a few photos taken while scuba diving in Italy. I think they are Flabellina babai. There is also a photo of a couple probably mating.

Locality: Porto S. Stefano, Argentario (Grosseto), Toscana, -10 metres, Italy, Mediterranean Sea - Thyrrenian Sea, 3 and 10 June 2006, Muddy bottom with a few rigid objects (mainly of anthropic origin: tyres, lost nets, concrete blocks). Length: 30 to 40 mm. Photographer: Paolo G. Albano.

Best regards
Paolo

broderipi@yahoo.com

Albano, P.G., 2006 (Jun 21) Flabellina babai from Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16884

Dear Paolo,
Thanks for these photos, which show some of the features of this species very well, including the way the cerata are arranged on common stalks. One interesting feature I hadn't read of before is how the tips of oral tentacles apparently wave up and down as the animal crawls along. In one photo you can see the tentacles fully extended but in the photo alongside the tips are lifted up. This is quite like the behaviour of the Indo-West Pacific species of Flabellina with paddle-shaped oral tentacles such as F. bicolor.

Concerning mating. I am not sure if they are actually mating, but they appear to be aligning the front part of their right sides together, which is a necessary first step.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jun 21). Comment on Flabellina babai from Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy by Paolo G. Albano. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16884

Factsheet

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