South Florida aeolid is Flabellina engeli

October 10, 2001
From: Linda Ianniello

Bill,
Sandra Millen has identified this aeolid as Flabellina engeli. Here is her note:
================
Linda,
The photo's you sent of the nudibranch look like Flabellina engeli. This animal is usually about 2 cm long. It has white or yellow lines on the dorsum and foot, I haven't seen the line broken into spots before. The swollen perfoliate rhinophores, tentacular projections on the front of the foot, clustered cerata and subterminal orange bands all fit this species. This animal does not eat green algae. It eats hydroids, but must be finding a tasty hydroid growing in or among the algae.
Keep up the good photography.
Sandra Millen,
Department of Zoology,
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4
=================

Linda

lindai@us.ibm.com

Ianniello, L., 2001 (Oct 10) South Florida aeolid is Flabellina engeli. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5431

Dear Linda & Sandra,
Thanks for solving that problem. Unfortunately when an original description is so lacking in detail it needs someone with knowledge of the living animals to make sense of the description and fill in the gaps. One interesting coincidence is that the original specimens of this species were collected on Halimeda, just as in Linda's photo.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Oct 10). Comment on South Florida aeolid is Flabellina engeli by Linda Ianniello. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5431

Factsheet

Flabellina engeli

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