OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK
Aegires gardineri (Eliot, 1906) [76mm]
Opisthobranch of the Week Data
Taxonomy:
- Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
- Suborder: Doridina
- Family: Aegiridae
Frequency on Okinawa:
Collection Data:
- Individual Collection No: RFB #3203-A
- Location: Tengan Pier (26o24.0'N, 127o51.1'E)[Horseshoe
Cliffs, Seragaki, Tengan]
- Date: 7 January, 1994 [May, Jun, Jul, 87; Oct, 89; May, 90; Jun, 91; Jun, 92;
May, 93; Jan, Jan, Apr, Jul, 94; May, 95]
- Depth: 40ft (12m) [5ft, 10ft(9 indiv), 40ft(3 indiv)]
- Water temperature at collection depth: 69oF (21oC)
- Size: TL 76mm [27, 30, 34, 37, 37, 39, 43, 46, 48, 51, 57, 76mm, plus 1
unmeasured indiv.]
- Specimen deposited: RFB Personal Research Collection (different individuals
of the species deposited at Cal Acad Sci).
[brackets indicate range for all Okinawa-collected specimens of the species]
Species Account:
Aegires gardineri * is considered to be uncommon on Okinawa; I have collected a total of thirteen individuals since the Summer of 1987, the majority of which were found at Horseshoe Cliffs. There are three species of Aegires found here which are superficially similar in external morphology; the three species are:
A. citrinus
A. gardineri (the above featured animal)
A. serenae
Aegires citrinus, is similar in form to A. gardineri but the former can can readily be separated from A. gardineri by its solid yellow color; the later by the presence of black pigment patches. A. serenae is considerably dissimilar in appearance from the other two species; see the species description on the page featuring A. serenae. All three animals are sponge feeders and are frequently found associated with calcareous sponges belonging to the genus Leucetta.
* Aegires serenae was originally featured on these pages as Notodoris gardineri Eliot, 1903. A recent paper by Fahey & Gosliner (2004) has proposed a taxonomic change to replace the name Notodoris with that of Aegires and the above featured animal follows their proposed taxonomy.
Literature Cited:
- Fahey S.J. & T.M. Gosliner. 2004. A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Aegiridae Fischer, 1883 (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Phanerobranchia) with Descriptions of Eight New Species and a Reassessment of Phanerobranch Relationships. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55 (34): 613-689, 82 figs., 4 tables.
Page Date: 05 May '97
Page Modification Date: 14 Feb '05
Digitally manipulated photo
Copyright © 2005 Robert F. Bolland
