Dear Vishal,

This is another interesting find from India - and another problematic eubranchid aeolid. This is most probably the same species as Yasuhiro Shirai's animal from Japan [message #2258] which I have tentatively identified as Eubranchopsis virginalis,but one distinctive feature of that species is the long, almost tentacular, tubercles it has on its cerata, as is well illustrated in Yoshi Hirano's message [#2268].

Until someone compares the anatomy of these two forms I have considerable misgivings about identifying your animal as E. virginalis. Interestingly, in Rao's paper describing Eubranchus mandapamensis, he also describes another species of Eubranchopsis from India - E. indicus. It has the tentacular tubercles on the cerata but lacks any distinct colour pattern or spots. As the largest of his 7 specimens was less than 6 mm long, its possible he was dealing with juveniles of 'true' E. virginalis. I guess this is just another taxonomic puzzle we have yet to resolve.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Thanks Yoshi,
Your photo looks very like the painting in Opisthobranchs of Sagami Bay. Yasuhiro's animal seems to be a peculiar colour form with more white pigmentation and redder bands on the oral tentacles and rhinophores.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Yasuhiro,
I am pretty sure this is Eubranchopis virginalis Baba, 1949. Baba (1949, 1971) does not mention the orange bands on the rhinophores and oral tentacles, but Abe (1964) shows dark bands in his black & white illustration, which probably represent these bands. As soon as I saw your photo I thought of the painting in Baba's Opisthobranchs of Sagami Bay (1949).
What is not clear in your photos are the 'acutely pointed tubercles' which are reported by Baba and Abe to occur on the cerata, but in other eubranchids such tubercles are sometimes very obvious and sometimes almost invisible. Certainly the shape of the cerata as you can see in the lower photo have the characteristic eubranchid shape gradually increasing in diameter from the base to about halfway along its length and then sharply decreasing in diameter to form a long tapering upper third.

This is a very interesting find. I don't know of a reference to this animal outside the references I list below.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

•Abe, T. (1964) Opisthobranchia of Toyama Bay and adjacent waters.
Hokuryan-Kan: Tokyo. 100pp, Pls 1-36.
•Baba, K. (1949) Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay Iwanami Shoten: Tokyo.
•Baba, K. (1971) Supplementary note on the anatomy of Eubranchus virginalis (Baba, 1949) from Japan (Nudibranchia: Eolidoidea: Eubranchidae). Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 19(1): 39-42.