Aplysiopsis minor from Sagami Bay

September 25, 2000
From: Cynthia Trowbridge

Dear Bill,
Here is another of the sacoglossans that Yoshi Hirano kindly photographed for me in Sagami Bay, during this past May. It is Aplysiopsis minor (Baba 1959) (Hime-kuro-moumiushi)

This animal coexists with Ercolania boodleae in high intertidal rock pools. The species is pigmented black. One of the key characters is that the sole of the foot is yellowish white with two longitudinal black bands extending the length of the foot; another species (Aplysiopsis toyamana) has two longitudinal black bands that extend from tail to center of foot (Baba 1959). We found 6 specimens on 16 May 2000 on the Miura Peninsula, Japan; our specimens were up to 13 mm long. Gonor (1961) distinguished Aplysiopsis enteromorphae (as Hermaeina smithi) from A. minor and other congeners.

References:
• Baba, K. (1959) The family Stiligeridae from Japan (Opisthobranchia - Sacoglossa). Publ. Seto. Mar. Biol. Lab., 7: 327-336
• Gonor, J.J. (1961) Observations on the biology of Hermaeina smithi, a sacoglossan opisthobranch from the west coast of North America. The Veliger, 4: 85-98.

Best wishes,
Cynthia.

trowbric@ucs.orst.edu

Trowbridge, C.D., 2000 (Sep 25) Aplysiopsis minor from Sagami Bay. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3071

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