Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda)
Author
Salvador, Xavier
0000-0003-3039-7566
Author
Fernández-Vilert, Robert
0000-0002-2812-4414
Author
Moles, Juan
0000-0003-4511-4055
text
Journal of Natural History
2022
2022-05-18
56
5 - 8
265
310
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2040630
journal article
83506
10.1080/00222933.2022.2040630
38f6df24-838f-409a-90df-b56087e6a9bc
1464-5262
6758438
Caliphylla mediterranea
A. Costa, 1867
(
Figure 5
(g))
Material examined
Cala d’Aiguafreda
,
Begur
(
Spain
),
41°57
ʹ
49”N
,
3°13
ʹ
41”E
,
5 September 2017
,
0.8 m
depth
, 2 spcs, adults,
L =
17 mm
;
CalaVentosa,
Sant Feliu de Guíxols
(
Spain
),
41°47
ʹ
5”N
,
3°2
ʹ
52”E
,
13 September 2017
,
1.5 m
depth
, 1 spc., adult,
L =
20 mm
;
Cala Maset
caves,
Sant Feliu de Guíxols
(
Spain
),
41°47
ʹ
10”N
,
3°2
ʹ
44”E
,
5 December 2017
,
0.7 m
depth
, 9 spcs, adults and egg masses,
L =
5–40 mm
; Fòrum pools,
Barcelona (
Spain
),
41°24
ʹ
34.5”N
,
2°13
ʹ
36.8”E
,
5 December 2017
,
0.7 m
depth
, 8 spcs, juveniles, adults and egg masses,
L =
5–40 mm
;
Cova de l’infern (
Spain
),
42°19
ʹ
2.75”N
,
3°19
ʹ
12.74”E
,
18 September 2018
,
1.3 m
depth
, 1 spc., adult and egg masses,
L =
40 mm
;
Punta de la Mona
,
Andalucía
(
Spain
),
36°43
ʹ
12.9”N
3°43
ʹ
43.1”W
,
20 September 2020
,
1–5 m
depth
,>40 spcs, juveniles, adults and egg masses,
L
=
4–30 mm
.
External morphology
Body elongate, thick, background colour light green with small brown and white dots along body, and a white pigmented area between eyes. Cerata numerous, flat; transparent with green lines running towards apex. Rhinophores long, folded, divided in ‘Y’ shape, tips divided into two unequal parts.
Ecology
Specimens found at night and during the day on the green algae
Bryopsis duplex
(De Notaris, 1844)
and
Cladophora prolifera
laying egg masses. At night slugs actively crawled and laid egg masses, while by day they hid among the algae.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico (BioGoMx 2021);
Brazil
(GBIF.org 2021);
Gibraltar
(
García-Gómez 2002
); Atlantic Spanish coast: Canary Islands (
Ortea and Bacallado 1981
;
Ortea et al. 1999
,
2001
;
Moro et al. 2003
); Mediterranean Spanish coast, Andalucía (
Luque 1983
;
García Raso et al. 1992
;
Ocaña et al. 2000
), Levantine coast (
Templado et al. 1987
,
2002
), Balearic Islands (GROC 2009–2021), Catalonia (this study).
Remarks
This species is distinguished from similar ones like
C. viridis
(
Deshayes, 1857
)
(formerly
Polybranchia viridis
) by the presence of a ramified digestive gland in the cerata (see
Poybranchia viridis
in
Rudman 2021
).
Genus
Cyerce
Bergh, 1870