Coryphella Pseudoverrucosa

''Coryphella verrucosa'', is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Coryphellidae.

It is found on either side of the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Distribution

The type locality of ''Coryphella verrucosa'' is Bergen, Norway. Current thinking is that it is widespread in the North Atlantic Ocean but that specimens found in the North Pacific Ocean are a closely related species.Telnes, K. (2012
Nudibranch - ''Flabellina verrucosa''.
Seawater Norway, Retrieved July 04, 2012 In North America, its range includes the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Gulf of Maine.Gofas, S. (2015)
''Flabellina verrucosa''.
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-01-26. Animals from British Columbia and Alaska differ significantly in colour pattern and are probably a sibling species, described as ''Coryphella longicaudata'' O'Donoghue, 1922.O'Donoghue, C. H., (1922). ''Nudibranchiate Mollusca from the Vancouver Island region. III. Records of species and distribution.'' Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 14(1):145-167, pls. 5-6. '' Coryphella pseudoverrucosa'' has recently been described as a separate species from the NW Pacific.

Description

The original description of this species is of an animal with unusually short, rounded cerata, hence the name ''verrucosa''.Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Apr 30)
Comment on Re: ''Flabellina''? from Norway by Jussi Evertsen.
essage in/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. The name has been extensively used for animals of different appearance, with long cerata, including '' Coryphella rufibranchialis'', the type species of the genus ''Coryphella''.

The body of ''Coryphella verrucosa'' is translucent white. The tail is elongated and pointed with a mid-dorsal line of opaque white pigment in which there are round translucent spots. This white line may extend along the back amongst the cerata from the tail, breaking up into spots. In different parts of its range this species has differently coloured forms, which may be different species. In some places the digestive gland in the cerata is red while in other locations, cerata with brown digestive gland predominate, though it is known that the colour of the digestive gland in species of Coryphellidae is dependent on diet. There is also considerable variation in the colouring of the tips of the cerata, from narrow broken rings (''F. rufibranchialis'' form) through broad white bands to white almost covering the tips of the cerata in the typical form. The oral tentacles have a broad white stripe on the upper surfaces.

The maximum recorded body length is 35 mmWelch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776. or up to .

This nudibranch is similar in appearance to '' Microchlamylla gracilis'' and many other species of Flabellinidae.Rudman, W.B., 1999 (August 27
''Flabellina verrucosa'' (M. Sars, 1829).
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

Ecology

In Norway this is a common species in depths of . Minimum recorded depth is 0 m and maximum recorded depth is 183 m. ''Flabellina verrucosa sensu lato'' has been reported at depths down to about and seems to inhabit both sandy and rocky habitats.

''Coryphella verrucosa'' grazes on sessile invertebrates on the sea bed. It also feeds on detritus and plankton. In the United Kingdom, it lives almost exclusively on the oaten pipes hydroid (''Tubularia indivisa'') whilst the juveniles have a wider diet range.Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2015)
''Coryphella rufibranchialis'' (Johnston, 1832).
n/nowiki> Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland. Accessed on 2016-1-26

''Coryphella verrucosa'' is a hermaphrodite but self-fertilisation does not occur. Two adults engage in an elaborate touching ritual that was at first thought to be agonistic behaviour. The tentacles touch each other and are then withdrawn repeatedly and there is biting, lunging and sidling. The actual act of copulation is very quick. The eggs are laid in a gelatinous string neatly coiled in a spiral on the seabed. After hatching, the veliger larvae drift as part of the plankton, eventually settling on the seabed.

As in most other Aeolid nudibranchs ''Coryphella verrucosa'' has the ability to incorporate nematocysts from its prey into the tissue of its cerata as a defence. It was found experimentally that when the nudibranch was kept in the vicinity of certain predators such as the common sunstar (''Crossaster papposus''), the bergall ('' Tautogolabrus adspersus'') (a fish) and the shore crab '' Carcinus maenas'', it incorporated more nematocysts than it did in a predator-free environment.

References

* Martynov A.V., Sanamyan N.P., Korshunova T. A. (2015). n RussianNew data on the opisthobranch molluscs (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) of waters of Commander Islands and Far-Eastern seas of Russia. In: Conservation of biodiversity of Kamchatka and coastal waters. Proceedings of XV international scientific conference Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Kamchat Press: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. pp. 55-69, pl. 2-6.

External links

Korshunova, T.; Martynov, A.; Bakken, T.; Evertsen, J.; Fletcher, K.; Mudianta, W.; Saito, H.; Lundin, K.; Schrödl, M.; Picton, B. (2017). Polyphyly of the traditional family Flabellinidae affects a major group of Nudibranchia: aeolidacean taxonomic reassessment with descriptions of several new families, genera, and species (Mollusca, Gastropoda). ZooKeys. 717: 1-139

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q61680942, from2=Q3172392, from3=Q46718145

Coryphellidae
Gastropods described in 1829
Taxa named by Michael Sars