Madrella ferruginosa Alder & Hancock, 1864
- Location
- Sunabe Water Treatment Plants, Okinawa Island (Chatan and Southern area), Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2011/04/25
- Length
- 10mm
- Depth
- 7.0m
- Water temperature
- 22.0℃
Description
Ground colour is dark brown to reddish-brown. The dorsum is scattered with fine white spots and patches, while numerous slender appendage-like cerata extend from the mantle margin. At rest these "cerata" are coiled, but when disturbed the slug straightens and erects them. With further stimulation a reddish-yellow defensive secretion is released from the bases of the cerata. The cerata are the same colour as the body, with darker basal portions. The rhinophores share the body colour; the distal half is swollen and granulated, and the very tip is drawn out into a slender rod.The species is similar to Madrella sanguinea but is distinguished by lacking blue patches on the dorsum.
Reaches about 45 mm in body length.
Distribution
Recorded from South Africa, Madagascar, India, New Caledonia and Japan.Etymology
The specific epithet ferruginosa is the feminine of Latin ferrugineus ("rust-coloured"), in reference to the rusty-brown body colour.Remarks
Originally described in 1864 from material collected in southern India. The Japanese vernacular name "Shōjō-umiushi" was proposed in "On Shaujau-umiushi" as Shaujau-umiushi = Madrella sanguinea (the species concept now applied to M. ferruginosa).References
- Madrella ferruginosa (genus context), Alder J. & Hancock A. (1863). On a new genus and some new species of mollusks from the Pacific Ocean, in the collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 31: 105-109.
- シヤウジヤウ（猩々）ウミウシ（新称）, Baba, K. 1935b. Notes on a nudibranch, Madrella sanguinea (Angas), with reference to its papillary glands. Venus 5(4):181-187, pl. 10.
- Rostanga arbutus, Baba, K. 1937f. Note on the colour variation of a dorid, Rostanga arbutus (Angas, 1864). Venus 7(1):1-4.
- ショウジョウウミウシ, Baba K. (1949). Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay collected by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan (相模湾産後鰓類図譜). Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo. 4+2+194+7 pp., pls. 1-50.
- ショウジョウウミウシ, 益田一. (1999). 海洋生物ガイドブック. 東海大学出版会.
- ショウジョウウミウシ, 鈴木敬宇. (2000). ウミウシガイドブック〈2〉. TBSブリタニカ.
- マドレラ・フェルギノーサ, 小野篤司. (2004). 沖縄のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- マドレラ・フェルギノーサ, 中野理枝. (2004). 本州のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
A Kindle field guide by the site author
Kimoto N. (2026). Sea Slugs of Japan & the Indo-Pacific, 2nd Edition.
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Photos of Madrella ferruginosa
Tag:
Same Genus Nudibranchs
Similar Colors Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.