Melibe from Turkey

March 7, 2001
From: Peter H. van Bragt

Hello Bill,

This summer a friend of mine (Eddy Zandt) came back from a diving trip in the Mediterranean sea at Turkey. He made the enclosed photographs of a large and swimming seaslug. After some searching I ended up with Melibe fimbriata as a possible determination of the species name.
Can you confirm this???

Thanks and with best regards
Peter H. van Bragt

vanbragt.phjm@hsbrabant.nl

van Bragt, P.H., 2001 (Mar 7) Melibe from Turkey. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3927

Dear Peter,
Thompson & Crampton (1986) and Moosleitner (1986) record this species from the Ionian Sea, Greece. It is considered to have entered the Mediterranean from the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal as the genus Melibe does not occur naturally in the Mediterranean. Thompson & Crampton identified their animals with Melibe fimbriata but as I have suggested above, Melibe viridis is probably the earliest name for this species.

It grows to quite a large size, Moosleitner's largest animal being more than 30cm long. From Eddy Zandt's photo, it looks like his specimen was also quite large.

• Moosleitner, H. (1986) Note on the occurrence of Melibe sp. (?) in the Mediterranean (Opisthobranchia: Fimbriidae). La Conchiglia, 18(202-203): 20.
• Thompson, T.E., Crampton, D.M. (1984) Biology of Melibe fimbriata, a conspicuous opisthobranch mollusc of the Indian Ocean, which has now invaded the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 50(2): 113-121.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Mar 7). Comment on Melibe from Turkey by Peter H. van Bragt. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3927

Factsheet

Melibe fimbriata

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