Platydoris argo

Manuel Martínez Chacón Platydoris argo. Tarifa, Spain.

Gonzalo Galan Platydoris argo !! esta vez si ;)

Senda Jiménez ... =)

Erwin Koehler 10 mm juv. Platydoris argo from Sardegna, taken by Alberto Piras at 3 m, July 1983, the adults look a little different

Gonzalo Galan Un par de Bailarinas el sábado pasado en Perduts (Tossa de Mar), a saber lo que estaban haciendo...

Jol Falcés Ñogo ñogo... Seguro... ;-P~

Senda Jiménez ... no son bailarinaaaaaaaaaaaas!!!! Aaaaaaaaah!!!! Bailarinas sólo en el trópico! Platydoris argo!!! :)

María José Galdón Je, je... ¡Que bien recuerdo tus enseñanzas, Senda Jiménez! Cuando lo he visto me he acordado de eso...:-)

Gonzalo Galan jajaj Senda Jiménez... pues Platlydoris... en una proxima vida me hago biologo... :) Gracias

Nuno Filipe Silvestre Peltodoris atromaculata Foto tirada dia 02 de Abril de 2013 a uma profundidade de +- 14 metros

João Pedro Silva Nuno, that's Peltodoris atromaculata, a common species in our area. When posting here, as this is a group more oriented towards studying sea slugs and less for sharing pretty pictures, keep in mind it's important to say where it was taken including depth and time of the year as this information may prove useful.

Nuno Filipe Silvestre Como costumo mergulhar na nossa área tenho algumas fotos de nudibrânquios e é como muito gosto que partilho as imagens do mesmo par efeitos de estudos. Suponho que o interesse seja bilateral, eu porque dentro do possível tento tirar boa fotos e partilhar e vocês que conseguem obter uma ajuda na monotorização das espécies. Entretanto fiquei com duvidas se realmente têm interesse ou não em saber os dados relacionados como o local e data do registo fotográfico. Caso haja algum interesse nas minhas fotos, n��£o tenho apenas deste Peltodoris atromaculata, como também tenho de Dondice banyulensis, Flabellina babai, Doriopsilla areolata, Roboastra europaea, Felimare picta, Felimida krohni ( Chromodoris krohni), Platydoris argo, Felimare villafranca 0;Hypselodoris villafranca), Felimare cantabrica (Hypselodoris cantabrica1;, Felimida krohni (Chromodoris krohni), Doriopsilla pelseneeri, Felimare tricolor (Hypselodoris tricolora). João, peço desculpa pela resposta em Português, mas pelo nome pareceu-me também o ser!

Nuno Filipe Silvestre Também não tinha reparado que o estudo estava restrito a uma zona.

João Pedro Silva Sim, Nuno, também sou português, assim como muitos outros aqui. But for the sake of communication between all the participants we keep english as the "lingua franca". All data is useful although those species are fairly common along the portuguese coast. Feeding, mating and spawning behaviours are always welcome. Regarding that particular spot, it's where I hold my personal record: 27 species in a single 60' immersion :)

João Pedro Silva If you're interested, go through my blog to meet some other sea slugs in our area and also identify further observations: http://hypselodoris.blogspot.pt/

João Pedro Silva I went through some of your photos of nudibranchs and spotted a couple of misidentifications (one Felimida purpurea identified as Felimida krohni and a Felimare cantabrica identified as Felimare picta) but I'm unable to comment there.

David Kipling Contrary to what Dawn Watson thinks, I do not have a supply of model nudibranchs that I take with me on dives ;) These are from the National Museum here in Wales, made of Fimo I think!

Christian Skauge I have a kit like this, bought on eBay from Japan :-)

João Pedro Silva My wife makes bijoux with Fimo professionally and I've been trying (for ages!) to convince her to do these models with the portuguese species.

Christian Skauge http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1550708580196&set=a.1157771997027.24269.1609584836&type=3&theater

João Pedro Silva Hurrah! I've shown my wife these models and she asked me to pick 6 species for her to make until June :)

Bernard Picton Tell your wife it's a very noble tradition. These glass models were traded widely and many museums still have some. There was a conference about them in recent years in Dublin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Rudolf_Blaschka

Bernard Picton Christian Skauge, for your contact who wanted Glaucus, NM Wales have a Blaschka one!! http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/galleries/blaschka/

Christian Skauge Do you have dates for June? Been away a few days (Nudibranch Safari, of course!) and haven't paid much attn to FB...

Bernard Picton Or July?

Christian Skauge Fantastic glass figures - I want one!!

Bernard Picton I doubt if you can afford one, I'm afraid. But if you visit Ireland we could try and get to see the ones in National Museum of Ireland. It was closed to the public, but I have contacts. http://www.ucd.ie/blaschka/

Christian Skauge Will do! I think I'll have to steal one, they seem a bit pricy... :-D

Bernard Picton Did you find a price?

João Pedro Silva Sorry, I don't have dates yet :(

João Pedro Silva I've sent a list of 8 species so she can pick 6: Flabellina babai, Hypselodoris villafranca (these are so common they are a "must"), Armina maculata, Marionia blainvillea, Diaphorodoris luteocincta, Dondice banyulensis, Chromodoris luteorosea, Cadlina pellucida. If these turn out ok I'm counting on you to convince her to the all the NE Atlantic species :)

David Kipling Okenia elegans of course!

Christian Skauge @ Bernard: Found no price, just a wild guess :-)

Gonçalo Calado Same with algarvian typical pastery http://www.imagesofportugal.net/media/471cd934-bdc1-11e0-acb5-57e8dc34769b-algarve-s-traditional-pastry-portugal

João Pedro Silva I usually describe Platydoris argo as a pancake orange underneath with sugar on top.

Bernard Picton Now don't go there... Seasearch keep inventing common names for things, Amphilectus fucorum = shredded carrot sponge - trouble is they are always food related...

Bernard Picton Pentapora was widely called ross coral (I think a typo for rose) but they invented potato crisp bryozoan....

Christian Skauge hahaha I always get hungry when finding a sea sausage :)

João Pedro Silva All the nudibranchs here in Portugal share on common name: "nudibranch". Except for Peltodoris atromaculata: "vaquinha suíça" (literally, "swiss cow", a dairy Holstein breed cow).

Becky Hitchin I have some plastic nudibranchs from Japan :)

David Kipling I have to say that I am disappointed that the National Museum (which tends to focus on welsh natural history) has a display of purely tropical nudibranchs! I think we should get João Pedro Silva's wife to make an extravagant set of NE Atlantic nudibranchs to replace them, to show that the Atlantic has species that can easily rival those in the tropics.

David Kipling Although we might have to make the Dotos a bit larger-than-life!

Kati Jost nightdive at abu dabbab 6, no glue what it is.... never seen before, very cool. :-)

Kati Jost in 8m depth, around 3.5cm long

Nathalie Yonow lovely! this is Platydoris pulchra, p 273 in The Book, where it is unidentified. it seems to be very rare in the Red Sea...

João Pedro Silva Trailing (or tailgating) behavior is also sometimes observed in Platydoris argo, very common here in Portugal (the nudi, not the behavior): http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/6473082617/

Sven Kahlbrock nice one, saw it only once at Gota Abu Ramada/ Hurghada several years ago

João Pedro Silva Trailing (our tailgating, as you preffer) behaviour on Felimare villafranca? Or just a coincidence? From the nudibranchs occurring here in Portugal, I only saw this behaviour on Platydoris argo. (Facelina annulicornis on the top was a bonus)

João Pedro Silva A couple of Platydoris argo "tailgating".

João Pedro Silva Platydoris argo com postura Local: Portimão, Algarve, Portugal Spot: Piscina de Neptuno Profundidade: 10m Data: 18-08-2012

João Pedro Silva Platydoris argo spawning near Setúbal, Portugal. This species is very common but usually well camouflaged so the first hint for its presence are the large orange egg masses, often more than 10cm wide.

Tullio Foti Platydoris argo. Scatto in apnea qualche anno fa.Stretto di Messina.

Antoni López-Arenas Cama Another opisthodoubt from the same dive: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alopezarenas/9296152954/in/photostream/lightbox/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/alopezarenas/9296152292/in/photostream/lightbox/

João Pedro Silva Good question. Not sure. Does remind a bit some more uniformly coloured Geitodoris planata. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/6578323353/

Brendan Oonk G. planata does have light star shaped acid glands, which I don't see in this picture.

Ian Smith The rhinophores and gills look right for planata. Light stars vary in their development; on some of your Flickr images I can see the large white acid producing tubercles and the white "star-material" seeping round the orange body tubercles. There is a selection of specimens, including an orangey one, and close ups of rhinophores & gills at http://www.conchsoc.org/spAccount/geitodoris-planata (make sure to click along the thumbnail strip as many images hidden on right). I'd say your det. is right. Did you check under the mantle for blotches (but sometimes absent)?

Ian Smith I'd better add a note of caution. I misread the location as Calais on le Manche; you have more possibilities in Cataluña.

Antoni López-Arenas Cama Any suggestion? :-P

Ian Smith Sorry, I'm not experienced in Med. spp. I've asked Jakov Prkic in Croatia if he thinks if it's ok for planata or if he has a suggestion. I'll let you know if he opines anything. I'm sure you'll know if you've looked on Bill Rudman's old Sea Slug Forum that the group is notorious for Opisthodoubta; I like the term you coined :-) BTW, you have a great selection of lovely images on Flickr. Before posting this I've just checked in Schmekel & Portmann "Opisth. des Mittelmeeres". Their illustration of Platydoris argo Tafel 3:3&4 is very close your image. If you have, or can borrow, a copy, it would be worth working through the text to see if you can match the features (the sheath round the rhinophore socket seems a bit high in their illustration). Schmekel says of P.argo, "gills orange with brownish red and opaque white dots at the tip." I can see opaque white tips on your image http://www.flickr.com/photos/alopezarenas/9293373621/in/photostream/lightbox/

Antoni López-Arenas Cama I think Platydoris argo has a typical granular texture and my specimen has a bigger glands. I would like to have this book, but it's very expensive :-P Some day... Thank you very much.

João Pedro Silva Brendan Oonk, the glands may not always be so conspicuous. One of the individuals on the photo I posted above does have them but are only noticeable in detail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/6578301813/ Regarding the P. argo possibility, the texture is very different from Antoni's individual: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/7645095810/

João Pedro Silva Gonçalo Calado, did we get a verdict from this one from Alpertuche last year? Reminds be a bit of Antoni's photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/6751588775/

João Pedro Silva There's an "Unidentified" album in this group. I've uploaded last year a more detailed crop: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3253540898442&set=oa.167103413400947&type=3&theater

Gonçalo Calado It could also be a Thordisa, I think

João Pedro Silva The papillae in Thordisa filix and T. azmani seem less dense and thinner than the ones in this individual (and also on the one I shot later but not collected: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/6896123624/)

Ian Smith I agree not P argo. Joao's images show the texture convincingly and the white tips on the gills to be far more extensive than I'd realised. I'd better leave southern stuff to you southerners. Toni you are right about Schmekel; greatly overpriced, but worth searching the web occasionally. I hit lucky and got a perfect like-new copy for £70 instead of usual £300. But do we really need Schmekel now Joao's Algarve book is available?

Ian Smith Jakov Prkic replied to my enquiry: Regarding Toni's images, the specimen certainly is not Platydoris argo. I think it belongs to planata-stellifera complex, where we can add also Geitodoris portmanni, a very doubtful species, closely related to stellifera. Toni's specimen has some features which correspond with original description of G. portmanni (redish/orange colour, large and conical tubercles, shape and number of gills, ...). But it has also a very unusual colour of the gills (there are two different colours!!), so this feature complicates its ID. In my opinion Toni's slug is more similar to stellifera/portmanni than to planata.

Lucas CerCur It is not T. filix nor T. azmanii. I agree that could be a "Geitodoris", but..... Again, we need to check internal anatomy to have some light, although it is probable that a definitive ID could be not obtained only from the anatomy.

Egidio Trainito The problem is that this is a very small specimen

Orietta Rivolta Lembeh strait 21/8/12 depht 15m,length 30mm Can you help ID?

João Pedro Silva Could it be Platydoris sanguinea? It's so similar to "our" Platydoris argo :)

Patrik Good Nice. Thanks for sharing. This critter is on my wish list. One of the few I am missing out from my dive site.

Orietta Rivolta Thanks João , you're probably right !

Gary Cobb I agree!

Encarni Sánchez Castillo

Věra Trávníčková what is the orange stuff down below nudibranch?

João Pedro Silva Looks a bit like Pentapora foliacea.

Věra Trávníčková Bryozoa?

Věra Trávníčková is it the same???

João Pedro Silva Yes, that's Pentapora foliacea, a bryozoan (or ectoproct).

María Eugenia Suárez Věra Trávníčková they are the future nudibranch, they are eggs.

João Pedro Silva That's the egg mass to the right, not the bryozoan underneath.

Věra Trávníčková I know :-)

Věra Trávníčková Clever one, isn!t it? He knows that his eggs and Pentapora are similarly shaped :-D!!!

João Pedro Silva Although I think it's the first time I see it spawning on P. foliacea :) The egg masses are very similar to those of Platydoris argo, too. And colour can vary a lot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/7827002902/in/set-72157626720024632

João Pedro Silva Here's an example of Platydoris argo with bright orange spawn: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/7816743654/in/set-72157626720024632

João Pedro Silva Most people normally don't see nudibranchs because they're so small. Can you see the second nudibranch in the photo?

Terry Griffiths Yeah it's crawling on it !!

O Gajo Dos Olivais the second is the P. faeroensys. The first being Platydoris argo almost for sure.

O Gajo Dos Olivais faeroensIs*

João Pedro Silva Bingo :)

João Pedro Silva A really large flatworm. Not the most common here in Portugal, though.

João Pedro Silva It bears a strong resemblance to the very common nudibranch Platydoris argo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsilva1971/5483628596/