Longibranchus putnami (Fernández-Simón & Moles, 2023)
- Location
- Shiratori Kindergarten, Miyakojima, Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2024/09/22
- Length
- 8mm
- Depth
- 12.0m
- Water temperature
- 28.0℃
Description
Body elongate; the head, rhinophores, dorsum, and lateral surfaces are uniformly dark brown. Two translucent bands run along the upper lateral sides from just below the rhinophores toward the tail, through which the beige-whitish digestive gland is visible. The rhinophores are smooth, dark brown, with scattered white dots near the tip; the oral tentacles are transparent. Cerata are club-shaped, up to 1 mm in length, lateralized along the body (up to 17 per side); their digestive gland is visible through translucent walls, with two rings of white dots at the base, a swollen milky-white tip, and a subterminal orange ring. Reaches around 20 mm in length.Distribution
Type locality is the Free-Climbing site, Dharanboodhoo, Faafu Atoll, Maldives, at 7 m depth. Recorded from the Indian Ocean (Maldives) and the western Pacific (Indonesia, the Philippines, Vanuatu, and Japan).Etymology
The specific epithet putnami honors George Putnam Jr. (1926–2019), a longtime supporter of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and founding donor of the Putnam Expeditionary Grant — the program that funded the research in which this species was described.Remarks
A member of the family Eubranchidae. The species feeds on plumularid hydroids, on whose colonies it crawls and grazes; its slender dark body and the laterally arranged cerata are thought to mimic the host colony.Originally described as Eubranchus putnami by Fernández-Simón & Moles in Cunha et al. 2023, the species was subsequently transferred to Longibranchus by a 2025 revision; the current valid binomial is Longibranchus putnami (Fernández-Simón & Moles in Cunha et al., 2023).
References
- ヤマンバミノウミウシ（新称）, 鈴木敬宇. (2000). ウミウシガイドブック〈2〉. TBSブリタニカ.
- Eubranchus sp. 25, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
- Eubranchus sp. 26, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
- Eubranchus putnami n. sp., Cunha T.J., Fernández-Simón J., Petrula M., Giribet G. & Moles J. (2023). Photographic Checklist, DNA Barcoding, and New Species of Sea Slugs and Snails from the Faafu Atoll, Maldives (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia and Vetigastropoda). Diversity. 15(2): 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020219
- Longibranchus putnami (Fernandez-Simon and Moles in Cunha et al., 2023) comb. nov., Martynov, A. & Korshunova, T. (2025). Hidden diversity of the North Pacific prompts reorganization of the taxonomic system. Moscow: Neptune. ISBN 978-5-9905149-3-5. 48 pp.
Featured in this book
Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
New World Publications
This species, Longibranchus putnami, is included in the book.
View on Amazon PR (Amazon Associates)Seasonality
Shooting Locations
Loading shooting locations...
Photos of Longibranchus putnami
Tag:
Similar Colors Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.