Berthella martensi from the Seychelles

August 27, 2007
From: David K A Barnes

Sorry the two photographs of this are not very good, but does anyone recognise the species.

Locality: Silhouette Is, Intertidal (lower shore), Seychelles, Indian, August 2007, rock and sand. Length: ~15mm. Photographer: Richard Barnes.

Richard Barnes

dkab@bas.ac.uk

Barnes D.K.A., 2007 (Aug 27) Berthella martensi from the Seychelles. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20540

Dear Dave,

Apart from being a bit short of water, one of the problems with identifying this animal is that it is a master of autotomy - that is it can break off majopr parts of its mantle when sidturbed, much like some lizards can cast their tail.

In this animal almost all the outer half of the mantle has been broken off so in the top photo the head [and neck] are clearly visible and in the lower photo we can see part of the gill on the right side.

The gill on the right side is a clue to its identity. It is a pleurobranch, or side-gilled slug,  Berthella martensi.  Have a look at other photos of the species on the Forum for an idea of which parts of your slug are missing.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 27). Comment on Berthella martensi from the Seychelles by David K A Barnes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20540

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