Cycloporus papillosus

Paula Lightfoot I thought the yellow 'patches' were part of the squirt, I only realised when looking at the photo that they are flatworms preying on the squirt! Maybe Cycloporus papillosus, which eats botryllid ascidians?

David Kipling Does that explain the holes in the test (which you'd not otherwise expect for bot schloss)?

Paula Lightfoot Apparently the flatworm "attaches to the surface of the colony by its ventral sucker and extracts whole zooids" (slurp!). I'd like to include the flatworm on my Seasearch form, but I'm not at all sure about the ID. Richard Lord has a photo of C. papillosus on his website which looks very different. http://www.sealordphotography.net/keyword/cycloporus%20papillosus#!i=547936467&k=BNR8L

David Kipling Do you think Becky should start growing a batch of them as natural predators against D vex? ;)

Paula Lightfoot Maybe they're fussy eaters, maybe they only like pretty flowery squirts and not disgusting 'rock vomit'!

Becky Hitchin I think I should! D. vex can be pretty in its own "unique" way!

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, Here is a small flatworm which I do not know the name, can you help me please. Baie de Concarneau, Brittany, on shore.

Richard Lord ascidian eating - I have seen similar in Guernsey but don't know the name.

Erling Svensen In my book there is a picrure from one almost like tis one -very similar. I do not have the name either, but the norwegian specialist said fam. Pseudocerotidae. This is the closest they could say.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, thank you for these interesting information. I have seen the photo in your book Erling but at that time I didn't find that it was similar. But searching the net for pictures I found one by Richard Lord http://www.sealordphotography.net/keyword/seashore/1/547936467_BNR8L#!i=547939331&k=DdUEx showing two specimen close to mine and one close to yours. So it's quite possible that it's the same species with colour variability.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, What about Cycloporus papillosus? This mimetic species has a quite variable coloration, in his book, Lang shows three colour varieties. It is mentionned in several documents as living in the English Channel. I found this description for British fauna : Nellie Barbara Eales 1967 Littoral Fauna of the British Page 52: Cycloporus papillosus. Gamble, p. 504. Elliptical, yellowish white, with dark blotches and spots. Surface usually papillose. Two small tentacles. Four groups of numerous small ejes. 10-14 mm. On Tunicates and sponges.

Andy Horton What is this? (not mine) http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwylan/2187319107/in/pool-72709705@N00/

David Fenwick Snr Hi Andy, hard to tell without microscopic examination, but worth checking out the polyclad Cycloporus papillosus for this one. If it is, it may be var. laevigatus because it looks like it lacks the brownish-red papillae of the species; in laevigatus they are replaced by pigment spots. There should also be a small sucker on the underside. ref: British Polyclad Turbellarians (S. Prudhoe)

David Fenwick Snr Regarding the sucker, it must be noted that flatworm suckers can easily and accidentally be torn off if the animal isn't removed from rock etc. carefully enough.

David Fenwick Snr I have it, but Richard has a good example on his site http://www.sealordphotography.net/keyword/marine%20life/1/547936467_BNR8L#!i=547936467&k=BNR8L

Paula Lightfoot Can anyone help ID flatworms? Is it even possible from photos? They don't have a lot of 'features' to go on! These were quite common under boulders in the intertidal zone on a fairly exposed shore.

George Brown There may be similar flatworms but this could be Cycloporus papillosus. I've only ever found them on sponges.

Paula Lightfoot These weren't on sponge or squirts, there was very little of either on this shore.

George Brown Paula, just checked my photos of Cycloporus. They're eating Botrylloides!

Paula Lightfoot I had been going to suggest Cycloporus papillosus for the pics I posted afterwards (the ones from Skinningrove that are actually on squirts) because these look like ones I posted last year from Flamborough which we agreed at the time looked like C. papillosus. I thought these might be something different as the eyespots look different and they don't have the cream markings around the edge. If you think these are C papillosus do you think the ones below are also C papillosus?

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat C. papillosus is different, it has a more roundish shape, with the body bearing pustules and two "tentacules" at the front. Colour and "eyes" position make me think of Leptoplana tremellaris.

Marco Faasse photo of L. tremellaris:http://www.cryptosula.nl/Leptoplanatremellaris.html

Paula Lightfoot All the UK records of Leptoplana tremellaris on the NBN Gateway are all from the west coast, but GBIF has records from Holland and NE France

Rachel Shucksmith Can anybody identify this flat worm? George Brown I think you have identified it for Penny Martin before but I cant remember what it is called. It was common on the squirts at Sula Sgeir.

George Brown Hi Rachel. Very nice. I think it's Cycloporus papillosus but may have the spelling wrong. Again. Good camouflage.

Rachel Shucksmith thanks George!