Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Flabellina ischitana

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Gastropoda

Family
  
Flabellinidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Mollusca

Superfamily
  
Flabellinoidea

Genus
  
Flabellina

Flabellina ischitana Flabellina ischitana OPK Opistobranquis

Similar
  
Flabellina affinis, Flabellina pedata, Flabellina babai, Cratena peregrina, Flabellina

Flabellina ischitana is a species of sea slug, an aolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Flabellinidae.

Contents

Flabellina ischitana Flabellina ischitana Forum Natura Mediterraneo Forum Naturalistico

Etymology

Flabellina ischitana wwwseaslugforumnetimagesm19249ajpg

The genus name Flabellina is a diminutive of Latin Flabellum, meaning fan, while the genus name ischitana mean from Ischia, the island from where this nudibranch was first named.

Distribution

Flabellina ischitana The Sea Slug Forum Flabellina ischitana

This species is found in Mediterranean waters around Spain in such locations as Costa Brava, and in the Tyrrhenian Sea, especially around Ischia (hence the species Latin name).

Habitat

Flabellina ischitana usually can be found in shallow water, but it can also reach depths of 35 m.

Description

Flabellina ischitana The Sea Slug Forum Flabellina affinis

This species can grow to a length of approximately 4 cm and is mostly purple-violet in colour. It has opaque white-tipped certa, rhinophores, and oral tentacles. The rhinophores are annulate. Due to the somewhat transparent skin of the ceras, the branches of the digestive gland are visible, and appear as red-orange.

Similar species

Flabellina ischitana is often confused with Flabellina affinis, but can be distinguished as follows:

Flabellina ischitana Flabellina ischitana OPK Opistobranquis

  • Flabellina ischitana: the ceratal surface has not purple-violet colouration and is translucent;
  • Flabellina affinis: the digestive gland is not visible as the area beneath the subapical white ring is opaque;
  • Flabellina ischitana is also similar to Flabellina pedata, but they can be distinguished on the basis of their rhinophores:

  • Flabellina ischitana has annulate rhinophore
  • Flabellina pedata has smooth or papillate rhinophores
  • Biology

    This nudibranch likely eats hydroids of the genus Eudendrium (Eudendrium racemosum and Eudendrium glomeratum) as its main food source.

    Like other nudibranchs, this species is hermaphrodite. Mating occurs in late printemps. The egg case is whitish or reddish, with thousands of eggs of about 70 microns. The nudibranch places the egg case on the branches of hydrozoa.

    References

    Flabellina ischitana Wikipedia


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