Opisthobranch from the Black Sea.

October 29, 2002
From: Alex Kurakin

Note: Ercolania funerea Costa 1867 is a junior synonym of Ercolania viridis Costa, 1866. All messages have been moved to that species page. See discussion - 7 June 2003.

Dear Dr. Rudman.
I am a biologist from Odessa (Ukraine). I record videos about life and habitats of the Black Sea. While videoing last year I found some kind of Nudibranch. According to the Guide of Black Sea's mollusk it looks likeStiliger bellulus, but it has many more cerata than S. bellulus.

I am sending you some video frames in hope that you give me some help in its identification. If needed I could send information about the place where I found it, and its morphology and feeding behaviour.
Thank you ever so much for taking my questions into consideration.
Best wishes,
Alexander Kurakin

kurakin@paco.net

Kurakin, A., 2002 (Oct 29) Opisthobranch from the Black Sea.. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8300

Dear Alexander,
Your animal is a sacoglossan opisthobranch which are herbivorous 'cousins' of the carnivorous nudibranchs. In you photos I can see a hint of filamentous green algae. If that is what your slug is feeding on it is unlikely to be the egg-eating Stiliger bellulus. From you photos it does seem to be a species of Stiliger. I have no published scientific infomation available to me on the Black Sea opisthobranch fauna and I don't know of a species with this colour from the Mediterranean. Hopefully someone more familiar than I am with the sacoglossans of the region will be able to identify your animal. In the mean time it would be interesting to have a little background information on where and when you found it, what it was feeding on, and its length.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Oct 29). Comment on Opisthobranch from the Black Sea. by Alex Kurakin. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/8300

Factsheet

Ercolania viridis

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