Dear Marina,
Thanks you so much - at last a good photo of a 'typical' Berghia verrucicornis from the Mediterranean, where it was first described from. I really have no excuse now for not preparing a proper Fact Sheet for this species. As I have discussed before, Aeolidella stephanieae, the US aquarium animal which for so long was misidentified as B. verrucicornis, is obviously quite different.

I have included a close-up alongside as it shows the orange markings on the body as found in Trinchese's old paintings [message #3918 ]

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Thanks Marina,
This certainly looks like the animal in Trinchese's plate. It makes me wonder whether the animal in your earlier earlier message is the same species, but without more information on its rhinophore morphology etc we will never know.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Gonçalo,
I am pretty sure this is the same animal that Malcolm Edmunds (1968) described from West Africa (Ghana) as a form of Berghia verrucicornis. However, as he discusses, and do other authors, this species is not well understood. I am surprised how poorly known some of these Mediterranean - European aeolids appear to be. It also has similarities to Spurilla columbina Garcia-Gomez & Thompson, 1990, but that description is not very clear either. I am however puzzled by the 'wrinkles' on the rhinophores as seen in your photo. Both S. columbina and B. verruciornis are said to have papillate rhinophores, but in the photos I have seen 'wrinkles' would be a more appropriate description.

Important colour features in your animal would include the median white line down the dorsum, which is described by Edmunds in Ghanaian material, and the orange border to the foot, which is a character that I can find no reference to in other descriptions. Either Berghia verrucicornis is quite variable in colour, or there are a number of similar species throughout the Atlantic. When discussing this species, I am of course not referring to the animal sold in the USA for Aiptasia control, which is almost certainly something else.

If anyone else has any thoughts on this species they would be very welcome as I could be quite wrong.

• Edmunds, M. (1968) Eolid Mollusca from Ghana with further details of west Atlantic species. Bulletin of Marine Science, 18(1): 203-219.
• Garcia-G¢mez, J.C. & Thompson, T.E. (1990) North Atlantic spurillid nudibranchs, with a description of a new species, Spurilla columbina, from the Andalusian coast of Spain. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 56: 323-331.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Mark,
You have no doubt seen the on-going discussion about the true identity of the 'commercial' B. verrucicornis sold in the USA. It would certainly be interesting to know if the Mediterranean B. verrucicornis ate Aiptasia. The big problem is finding it. I don't know if it has been recorded from there but in the western Mediterranean it has been reported from relatively shallow water [10m or less] on rocky bottoms. The only comprehensive list of opisthobranchs from Israel is quite old (Barash & Danin, 1971) so even though it is not in that list does not mean it can't be found. In a subsequent paper on feeding (Barash & Zenziper, 1984) they mention that Spurilla neapolitana feeds on Aiptasia sulcata so there may be something close by to solve your problem.

I would suggest you get in touch with Henk K. Mienis who may be able to give you further information or suggest some one who can. He is at the:
National Mollusc Collection
Dept. Evolution, Systematics & Ecology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
IL-91904 Jerusalem.

• Barash, A & Danin, Z. (1971) Opisthobranchia (Mollusca) from the Mediterranean waters of Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology, 20: 151-200.
• Barash, A. & Zenziper, Z. (1984) On the food of some Opisthobranchs found in the Mediterranean waters of Israel. Levantina, 51: 585-598.

If you have any luck I would love to hear about it.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Thanks David,
I guess some day some one will send in a photo of these commercial ones so we can have a look at what they really are
Cheers,
Bill Rudman

Dear Michel,
Your photo reminded me of an old colour plate which I reproduce alongside from Trinchese (1881 - Plate 1). Trinchese identified it as Berghia coerulescens - a misidentification which led to confusion between the two species for over 100 years.

Trinchese, S (1881) Aeolididae e famiglie affini del Porto di Genova. Part 2. Anatomia, Fisiologia, Embriologia delle Phyllobranchidae, Hermaeidae, Aeolididae, Proctonotidae, Dotonidae del Porto di Genova. Memorie della Classe di scienze fisiche, matematiche e naturali, serie 3, 11(4 January): 1-142, Pls 1-80.

Concerning your question about whether Berghia or Spurilla is the correct genus name. Have a look at an earlier message where I discuss this very question. One of the characters separating the two genera are the rhinophores, papillate in Berghia and lamellate in Spurilla. In 'Berghia' verrucicornis, as you can see in Trinchese's plate the sides of the rhinophore clubs are lamellate, while posteriorly the rhinophore club is papillate.

I'm sorry I can't say which name is 'correct', as we 'scientists' are still considering the question.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Thanks Erwin for you rapid reply, and please thank Luis. .. Bill

The Berghia verrucicornis page looks a bit bare. Has anyone got a photo I could put on the page please?

Thanks .... Bill Rudman.