Cadlinella subornatissima
Baba, 1996

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Known from a few records in Suruga Bay, Japan, and reported in the Forum from Sth Korea and Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.

PHOTO

Bum islet. Jeju island, -33 m, South Korea, Pacific, 19 Sep. 2006,  Length: approx. 20 mm. Photographer: Dong Bum Koh.

Similar in externals shape and morphology to Cadlinella ornatissima with a interwoven network of spicules throughout the mantle and body wall. There are many elongate round-tipped tubercles scattered all over the mantle, muchlarere and more elongate than in C. ornatissima. The mantle glands see to be restricted to small spherical sacs forming a broad band around the mantle edge. Although the general colour of the two species is similar, in C. subornatissima the yellow background colour is restricted to the central part of the mantle, there being a broad colourless band around the edge of the mantle skirt. Another difference is that there is broad basal colourless patch around each tubercle in C. subornatissima, while in C. ornatissima the yellow background colour extends right up to the base of each tubercle.

  • Baba, K. (1996) Description of a new species of Cadlinella (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) from Japan. Venus, The Japanese Journal of Malacology, 55(4): 265-271.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2006 (December 11) Cadlinella subornatissima Baba, 1996. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/cadlsubo

Related messages


Cadlinella subornatissima from the Red Sea

January 21, 2009
From: Binyamin Koretz

Concerning message #22007:

Hi Bill,

We still haven't found time to deal with many of our 2008 slugs but here's our first interesting find of the 2009 season, Cadlinella subornatissima, presumably not quite an adult. This is yet another species that I suspect may have arrived here by ship from the Pacific.

Locality: Eilat, Lighthouse Beach, 58 m, Israel, Red Sea (Gulf of Eilat), 18 January 2009, coral reef. Length: 9 mm. Photographer: Binyamin and Shulamit Koretz.

Best regards
Binyamin

binyamin@koretz.net

Koretz, B., 2009 (Jan 21) Cadlinella subornatissima from the Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22164

Dear Binyamin,
This is quite an extreme extension range from the NW Pacific to the NW Indian Ocean. You could be right in suggesting it has been artificially introduced by shipping, but as I have commented before, perhaps C. subornatissima and C. hirsuta will turn out to be extreme forms of C. ornatissima. Just another question to add to the 'to do' list.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Jan 21). Comment on Cadlinella subornatissima from the Red Sea by Binyamin Koretz. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22164

Cadlinella subornatissima from Kwajalein Atoll

November 7, 2008
From: Scott Johnson

Concerning message #18824:

Hi Bill,

I couldn't help adding to your backlog with these shots of what sure appears to be Cadlinella subornatissima. I ran across this specimen here at Kwajalein a few days ago on a reef that also supports a fair number of Cadlinella ornatissima. I'm afraid I don't have a copy of Baba's original description, but if this is indeed his C. subornatissima, the Marshall Islands are quite an extension of the range from Japan and Korea. Finding this in a habitat that also contains C. ornatissima makes me wonder if I might have been too hasty in assuming the oddly colored single Cadlinella specimen I found some years ago in Bikini Atoll [message #3438] was a color form of C. ornatissima.

Locality: Kwajalein Atoll, 6m, Marshall Islands, Pacific, 26 October 2008, Under dead coral rock. Length: 10mm. Photographer: Jeanette and Scott Johnson.

Scott
http://www.underwaterkwaj.com

uwkwaj@yahoo.com

Johnson, S., 2008 (Nov 7) Cadlinella subornatissima from Kwajalein Atoll. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22007

Dear Scott,

Thanks for the record. Yes this certainly fits Baba's description of the species. He specifically described the way the yellow background colour on the mantle was restricted to a broad median band. Another feature is that in most cases the yellow pigmentation does not run up to the base of the mantle papillae, leaving a broad translucent patch around each papilla. Baba also suggested that the arrangement of the mantle glands in this species differed from the arrangement I had earlier reported for C. ornatissima. He suggested that in C. subornatissima the mantle glands were restricted to scattered small single glands near the mantle edge. In C. ornatissima there are an outer band of these small single glands, then an inner row of larger glands, consisting of clusters of small glands, and then inside that row a few large multiple glands. Looking at your photos, where the glands appear as bright opaque white spots, I can see all three gland types. This either means the gland arrangement is a generic character or perhaps that the various species of Cadlinella are variants of one species.

I tend to agree with your suggestion that the animal from Bikini Atoll in your earlier mesage could be this species. One other point of interest is in your middle photo. Is the greyish 'gunge' in all the hollows in the rock a sponge? It looks to be as though it could be Halisarca. I note that you list Halisarca metabola as one of the food items of Cadlinella ornatissima [see Johnson & Boucher, 1983]. It would be interesting to also link C. subornatissima to the same sponge - although from your photo alone it wouldn't be a very strong association.

  • Johnson, S & Boucher, L.M. (1983)  Notes on some Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Marshall Islands, including 57 new records. Pacific Science, 37(3), 251-291.
  • Rudman, W. B. (1984a) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 81, 115-273

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Nov 7). Comment on Cadlinella subornatissima from Kwajalein Atoll by Scott Johnson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22007

Cadlinella subornatissima from South Korea

December 14, 2006
From: Dong Bum Koh

Dear Bill,

This is a photo of what I think is Cadlinella subornatissima at Jeju island from South Korea.

Locality: Bum islet. Jeju island, -33m, South Korea, Pacific, 19 September 2006, Length: approx. 20 mm. Photographer: Dong Bum Koh.

Best regards,
Dong Bum Koh

drkoh@seasee.co.kr

Dear Koh,
This certainly fits Baba's description of the species. There are so few records of this species since its naming 10 years ago, that every new one is very valuable.

I have prepared a Fact Sheet for it and also one for Cadlinella hirsuta, the third known species in the genus, which I described in 1995.

  • Baba, K. (1996). Description of a new species of Cadlinella (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) from Japan. Japanese Journal of Malacology, (4) 55: 265–271

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Dec 14). Comment on Cadlinella subornatissima from South Korea by Dong Bum Koh. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18824