Verconia varians (Pease, 1871)
- Location
- Cape Maeda, Okinawa Island (Onna and Yomitan area), Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2010/07/22
- Length
- 10mm
- Depth
- 10.0m
- Water temperature
- 29.0℃
Description
A small chromodorid reaching about 25 mm in body length. The body is subpellucid, flaccid, oblong, smooth, convex above, slightly dilated anteriorly, and rounded at both extremities. The gill is small, only about half the width of the body, incurved, retractile into a simple cavity. The rhinophores are large, sub-erect, clavate, retractile into tubular cavities; the laminae are not very oblique, but close and deeply cut. The oral appendages are small and conical. The foot is elongate, narrow, slightly dilated in front and tapering posteriorly to a point projecting considerably behind the mantle. In life the ground colour is rose red, with a median dorsal white line extending from the inter-tentacular space to the gill. The mantle margin is yellow, the rhinophores rose red, the upper portion of the gill plumules purple violet. The under surface of the mantle is the same as above but paler, and the foot is pale purple violet. A variety occurs in which the rose red of the upper surface is replaced by purple violet, and the gill star bears one more plumule (six instead of five). Pease's type was about 1 inch (≈ 2.5 cm) long, from Huahine and Maiao Islands. Pease noted that the species is lively under stones in the upper region of the laminarian zone, and that, when in motion, it keeps the anterior portion of the mantle flapping up and down continually.Distribution
Indo-West Pacific to the central Pacific. Type locality: Huahine and Maiao Islands, Society Islands, based on specimens collected by Andrew Garrett and described by Pease. Subsequently recorded from the Hawaiian Islands, southern Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, New Caledonia and elsewhere.Etymology
The specific epithet varians is the present participle of Latin, meaning "varying, changeable", in reference to the variation of the body colour from rose red to purple violet between individuals. Pease did not state an etymology, but the meaning is consistent with his own report of a "variety" in which the rose red is replaced by purple violet.Remarks
Originally placed by Pease in Chromodoris. Later transferred to Verconia; the parentheses in the author citation reflect this generic transfer. The Japanese name "クラサキウミウシ" derives from the dark purple variety of the species, evoking the "kura-saki" ("dark purple") shade.References
- Chromodoris varians Pease n. sp., Pease W.H. (1871). Descriptions of new species of Nudibranchiate Mollusca inhabiting Polynesia. No. 2. American Journal of Conchology. 7(1): 11-19, pls. III-IX.
- キベリアカイロウミウシ, 益田一. (1999). 海洋生物ガイドブック. 東海大学出版会.
- キベリアカイロウミウシ, 小野篤司. (1999). ウミウシガイドブック. TBSブリタニカ.
- キベリアカイロウミウシ, 鈴木敬宇. (2000). ウミウシガイドブック〈2〉. TBSブリタニカ.
- ノウメア・ワリアンス, 小野篤司. (2004). 沖縄のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- Verconia varians, Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012). Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: a molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479.
- Noumea varians, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
- クラサキウミウシ（新称）, 中野理枝. (2018). 日本のウミウシ. 文一総合出版.
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, Verconia varians, is included in the book.
View on Amazon PR (Amazon Associates)Seasonality
Shooting Locations
Loading shooting locations...
Photos of Verconia varians
Tag:
Same Genus Nudibranchs
Similar Colors Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.