Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum Carlson & Hoff, 1973
- Location
- Umiushi Goten, Miyakojima, Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2018/06/10
- Length
- 10mm
- Depth
- 10.0m
- Water temperature
- 26.5℃
Description
A small gastropterid reaching 3-13 mm in length. The body is translucent grey to pale pinkish, with fine black speckles scattered across the dorsum and small, slightly raised pustules of light grey to cream. Orange pigment borders the anterior corners of the headshield, the rim of the flagellum, the parapodial edges, and the posterior margin of the visceral hump. The parapodia are markedly reduced compared with congeners, and animals are seldom seen swimming, instead crawling on their host sponge where the grey ground colour provides excellent camouflage.Distribution
Originally described from Bile Bay, Merizo, Guam (the type locality). Subsequently reported widely across the Indo-West Pacific, including Réunion, Tanzania, the Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Rota, Guam, Palau, Fiji, and Japan.Etymology
The specific epithet derives from Latin niger (black) and punctatum (spotted), referring to the fine black speckles scattered over the body.Remarks
Obligately associated with sponges of the genus Dysidea, on which it feeds and is well camouflaged. It is sympatric with its congener Sagaminopteron bilealbum, which lives on a different species of Dysidea; S. nigropunctatum is distinguished externally by its more reduced parapodia, its rare swimming behaviour, and the black speckling and orange pigmentation absent in S. bilealbum. Internally, the shell is proportionately larger and the prostate more highly convoluted than in S. bilealbum, and the penial papilla is more lobate.References
- Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum n.sp., Carlson C.H. & Hoff P.J. (1973). Two new species of Gastropteridae from Guam, Marianas Islands (Opisthobranchia: Cephalaspidea). Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory. 21(2): 141-151.
- Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum Carlson & Hoff, 1973, Gosliner T.M. (1989). Revision of the Gastropteridae (Opisthobranchia: Cephalaspidea) with descriptions of a new genus and six new species. The Veliger 32(4): 333-381.
- ニグロプンクタートゥム, 小野篤司. (1999). ウミウシガイドブック. TBSブリタニカ.
- コンニャクウミコチョウ（新称）, 小野篤司. (2000). ウミウシガイドブック. 第2版. TBSブリタニカ.
- コンニャクウミコチョウ, 小野篤司. (2004). 沖縄のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
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, Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum, is included in the book.
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Same Genus Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.