Articles posted by Pontes, Miquel

Author: Pontes, Miquel

Informático de profesión, es fotógrafo submarino y naturalista aficionado. Submarinista desde 1994, su “logbook” cuenta con centenares de inmersiones en el mar Mediterráneo, mar Caribe y mar Rojo y en los océanos Atlántico, Índico y Pacífico. Fundador del Grupo de Estudios M@re Nostrum en 1996, socio fundador de Grup de Recerca en Opistobranquis de Catalunya en 2010, socio fundador del Grup de Recerca VIMAR (Vida Marina) en 2012. Co-autor y webmaster del web dedicado a los moluscos opistobranquios del Mediterráneo e Iberia OPK - Opistobranquis, co-autor del libro "Els nudibranquis del mar català" publicado en 2020 por Brau Edicions, descubrió el interesante mundo de los opistobranquios en 1997 de la mano de sus compañeros de inmersión y desde entonces ha sido una línea de trabajo continuada, aportando fotos submarinas, observaciones hechas en el medio natural y colaborando en la difusión de este área del conocimiento. Autor y co-autor de múltiples publicaciones científicas sobre moluscos opistobranquios (y otros grupos animales), ha participado y participa en todo tipo de proyectos divulgativos (libros, revistas, webs, conferencias, exposiciones …) como medio para difundir su interés principal: proteger los mares y los seres que los habitan. Desde 2019 es coordinador del grupo VIMAR (Vida Marina) y es webmaster de esta página web.

Nudibranch taxonomy: when is it justified to change a name?

Taxonomia dels nudibranquis: quan està justificat canviar un nom?

The taxonomy of nudibranchs has undergone a profound transformation over the last few decades. The incorporation of molecular data, phylogenomics, and increased taxon sampling has made it possible to uncover evolutionary relationships that were impossible to recognize using traditional morphology. In many cases, these advances have required classifications that had remained unchanged for decades to be revised, with modifications to the names of families, genera, and even species. These changes…

Nudibranchs: taxonomic revolution

Peltodoris atromaculata by Miquel Pontes

In 2025, Tatiana Korshunova, Karin Fletcher, and Alexander Martynov published a groundbreaking study titled “The endless forms are the most differentiated—how taxonomic pseudo-optimization masked natural diversity and evolution: the nudibranch case”. This article marks a turning point in the taxonomy of nudibranchs, especially aeolidaceans, by questioning recent “lumping” practices (excessive synonymization and merging) that, according to the authors, concealed true evolutionary diversity. The study emphasizes the importance of recognizing fine-scale…

New guide on the sea slugs from Thau lagoon (France)

Doris verrucosa @ Basin de Thau, France 30.05.2020 by Pascal Girard

A commented and illustrated guide has just been published containing all the sea slugs species inventoried in the Thau lagoon (Hérault, France) from 2008 to the present. This work, with almost 200 pages, presents the main diving spots in the area, as well as the 63 observed species, illustrated with high-quality photos and commented with very interesting observations on the biology and some phenotypic data of each species. …

New molecular techniques for taxonomic determination in Heterobranchia

The use of molecular techniques to investigate the evolutionary history of animal groups and define monophyletic lineages has expanded exponentially in recent decades, becoming one of the essential steps to achieve a good integrative taxonomy.

The sea slugs of Barcelona

Algunas babosas marinas de las costas de la ciudad de Barcelona

The article “Sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia): the other Inhabitants of the city of Barcelona (Spain)” written by Alex Parera, Miquel Pontes, Xavier Salvador and Manuel Ballesteros has been published in number 84 of the Catalan Institute of Natural History Bulletin (BICHN), in which an inventory of the species of these interesting molluscs is made along the coastal front of the city of Barcelona. This work has been carried out…

Not all nudibranchs are carnivores

El nudibranquio Polycerella emertoni. Foto de Manuel Ballesteros

In July 2020, an interesting article (Camps-Castellà et al., 2020) was published in the prestigious journal Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS), which, under an apparently trivial title, announces a paradigm shift: “Not all nudibranchs are carnivores“. Nudibranchs (Mollusca, Nudibranchia) have traditionally been considered one of the most highly specialized groups of predators (Megina & Cervera 2003) and, in fact, they are classified into four groups based on their diet: sponge…

Farewell, Lenka

It is not very often that you find people with whom you share the same hobbies but, luckily, from time to time it happens, and in these cases a very special personal connection is established. We become part of their world, and they become part of ours. Lenka Juskaničová was one of these people. Over the years many of us have shared several hobbies with her: scuba diving, underwater photography,…

Curiosities about nudibranchs

Did you know…? The word “nudibranch” means “naked gills”. Derives from the Latin “nudus” (naked) and the Greek “brankhia” (gills). It refers to the small flower shaped protuberances that can be seen on the back of many of these animals. There are more than 3,000 species of nudibranchs. They live from the surface to depths of 2,500 meters. They are found in all seas, from the tropics to the…

How to differentiate the pink “flabellina”

Any diver with a certain experience searching for opisthobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea or NE Atlantic could tell you that, sometimes, it is pretty difficult to tell apart which species of pink “flabellina” you are looking at. It’s not really that difficult, as long as you know what to look at in order to differentiate them. Here we include the main traits of the most common species: Flabellina affinis has the following characteristics:…

How to distinguish the blue Felimare

Any diver with a certain experience searching for opisthobranchs in the Mediterranean or Eastern Atlantic could tell you that, sometimes, it is pretty difficult to tell apart which species of blue Felimare nudibranch you are looking at. The new genus Felimare recently replaced the classic denomination Hypselodoris that is found in most printed books. Felimare opisthobranchs of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean were revised by Ortea et al in 1996. Still…