Mariaglaja tsurugensis (Baba & Abe, 1959)
- Location
- Shelley Beach, The Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
- Date
- 2017/11/26
- Length
- 15mm
- Depth
- 0.1m
- Water temperature
- ??℃
Description
A small Aglajidae, body length 15-20 mm. The mantle-shield is bifurcated posteriorly, with the left lobe long and tapering and the right lobe distinctly shorter and rounded — always asymmetric. Ground colour glossy purplish-black. The whole upper surface (except the sole) bears varying numbers of yellow to golden-yellow spots, irregular in size and arrangement. Opaque white markings are present on each side of the anterior edge of the head-shield. The parapodial lobes have no coloured border.Distribution
Type locality: Myojinzaki Mizushima, Tsuruga Bay, Fukui, Japan (under stones in shallow water). The original description records the species only from Tsuruga Bay.Etymology
The specific epithet tsurugensis is a place-name adjective referring to Tsuruga Bay, the type locality. The Japanese name "Myōjin-tsubamegai" refers to Myojinzaki, the collection site.Remarks
Originally described as Chelidonura tsurugensis and subsequently transferred to Mariaglaja under a phylogenetic revision of Aglajidae. Comes nearest to the Indo-Pacific Chelidonura hirundinina var. punctata (Zanzibar), but the latter has large, well-defined orange spots in a regular arrangement.References
- ミョウジンツバメガイ, 高岡高等学校生物研究会(編). (1964). 富山湾産後鰓類図譜.
- 高岡生物研究会. (2002). 日本海のウミウシ. 第2版.
- ヒョウモンツバメガイ, 小野篤司. (2004). 沖縄のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- ヒョウモンツバメガイ, 中野理枝. (2004). 本州のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- Turner L.M. & Wilson N.G. (2012). The Chelidonura tsurugensis–sandrana (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea) species complex: do reproductive decisions maintain colour polymorphism?. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 78(2): 166-172. https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyr057
- Chelidonura sandrana, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
- Andrea Zamora-Silva and Manuel António E. Malaquias Molecular phylogeny of the Aglajidae head-shield sea slugs (Heterobranchia: Cephalaspidea): new evolutionary lineages revealed and proposal of a new classification Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2017
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, Mariaglaja tsurugensis, is included in the book.
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Photos of Mariaglaja tsurugensis
Tag:
Same Genus Nudibranchs
Similar Colors Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.