Friday, June 01, 2007

Friday Nudibranch Blogging

It’s a more festive day than usual, thanks to the discovery of five - or possibly six - new species of nudibranch. Here’s your chance to get acquainted.

Cerberilla chavezi sp. was collected from the Bahia de Santiago, Colima in Mexico and is named for Roberto Chavez, who provided assistance during fieldwork and suggested dive sites.

Cuthona destinyae came out of hull scrapings from the M/V Destiny in La Gordornia, Guerrero, Mexico, and thus, is named for the boat.

Cuthona millenae, named for Sandra Millen for her knowledge of Pacific nudibranchs, was collected from under a rock at 19m depth in the Bahia de Banderas, Jalisco-Nayarit, Mexico.

Cuthona behrensi, a beautiful white specimen with white-tipped rhinophores named for nudibranch specialist Dave Behrens, who supported the research effort, was found by Alicia Hermosillo under a rock at 13m depth at Los Frailes, Golfo de Chiriqui, Panama.

Eubranchus yolandae was collected from Los Arcos, Bahia de Banderas, Jalisco-Nayarit, Mexico, from a rock wall at a depth of 17m. This species was named for Yolanda Camacho-Garcia for her contributions to the knowledge of Pacific ophistobranchs.

Herviella sp., was photographed and collected by Alicia Hermosillo from a floating buoy southeast of Isla Coiba, Coiba National Park, Panama. The new species status and naming of this animal awaits the discovery of additional specimens.

All photos by Alicia Hermosillo.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's like the roses' ball in Hans Christian Anderson - I can see them whirling to the music. What a feast for the eyes.

Hecate said...

Cuthona behrensi is my favorite.

Anonymous said...

Wow! So many gorgeous nudibranches all at once!

Anonymous said...

A positive orgy of nudibranches. My screen saver thanks you!!!!

Gindy

Anonymous said...

wow, where do you get all these wonderful pictures? was there a press release somewhere or did the photographer send them to you, knowing that you post pictures of nudies every friday?