Placida cremoniana from the Bay of Biscay

April 1, 2008
From: Mikel Cortes

I found this sacoglossan last October, it is the first time I ever have seen one of them. Is it Placida cremoniana? I took the photo at 20 metres, inside the Bilbao harbour in the Bay of Biscay, North of Spain.

Locality: Bilbao, inside the harbour., 20 metres, Sapin, Bay of Biscay, 21 October 2007. Length: about 10 mm. Photographer: Mikel Cortes.

Regards,
Mikel.

mikelcortes@hotmail.com

Cortes, M., 2008 (Apr 1) Placida cremoniana from the Bay of Biscay. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20997

Dear Mikel,

Yes this is Placida cremoniana. This species has a very strange distribution. It was described by Trinchese (1893) from the Mediterranean and then Baba (1949) reported it from Japan. Since then it has been found at various other places in the western Pacific as far south as Sydney in eastern Australia. We should really compare the anatomy of Mediterranean and Pacific animals to confirm they are the same species. Like a number of animals with puzzling distributions like this we can't say if its original home is the Mediterranean just because it was reported there first. Perhaps it hitched a ride to Europe on the bottom of some early explorers sailing ship?

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Apr 1). Comment on Placida cremoniana from the Bay of Biscay by Mikel Cortes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20997

Factsheet

Placida cremoniana

Related messages

  1. Re: Algal food of Placida cremoniana
    From: Cynthia Trowbridge, March 29, 2010
  2. Placida cremoniana from Wollongong, NSW, Australia
    From: Sascha Schulz, September 16, 2005
  3. Algal food of Placida cremoniana
    From: Cynthia Trowbridge, November 18, 2003
  4. Placida cremoniana from Cerbere
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 4, 2003
  5. Is this a species of Stiliger?
    From: Akos Lumnitzer, March 15, 2002
  6. Placida cremoniana from Japan
    From: Nishina Masayoshi, August 28, 2001
  7. Placida cremoniana from Mediterranean
    From: Thierry Thibaut, May 12, 2001
  8. Placida cremoniana from New South Wales
    From: Bill Rudman, May 12, 2001
  9. Re: Placida cremoniana
    From: Kathe Jensen, May 12, 2001
  10. Stiliger cremoniana from SE Sulawesi
    From: Lindsay Warren, February 27, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages