Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Cladobranchia Aeolidioidea Learchis poica

Learchis poica

Learchis poica  Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1960

Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Cladobranchia  

 

Superfamily

Aeolidioidea  

 

Family

Facelinidae  

 

Genus

Learchis  

 

Species

Learchis poica  Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1960

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 420632).
Description
Small nudibranch up to 14mm in length. Quite variable in color, the typical pattern is the translucent body with white patching on the head and behind the rhinophores that may form a broad continuous median dorsal band from the front of the head to the tip of the tail. There can also be an opaque white irregular band along each side of the body, below the cerata. It has orange markings on the head, often consisting of an orange line from the base of the oral tentacles to the base of the rhinophores. There can also be an orange patch on each side of the head (cheek patch) that could be replaced by an orange line from the base of the rhinophores to the foot, or from below the rhinophores forward to the front of the head below the oral tentacles. The rhinophores are often described as annulate, perfoliate or lamellate, but they consistently have an irregular arrangement of 6-10 rings or annulations, some of which are irregular or incomplete (Edmunds, 1964). The oral tentacles are smooth. The cerata stand in about 8 groups laid in arches, the hindmost of which are indistinctly separated; they are translucent with a few scattered white patches (covering most of the cerata in certain specimens), a subterminal white band (there could be an orange band in certain specimens) and a white cnidosac on the tip. The digestive gland can be seen, by transparency, inside the cerata and it could be colored from light brown to dark brown or even black. The eyes are black. The foot is narrower than the body, specially in the anterior side, it has a bilabiate anterior border with tappered propodial tentacles normally facing backwards as the animal moves. The tail is short.

Biology
The animals appear to move little. Sometimes it forms clusters on the hydroids they feed on (Halocordyle disticha in the Canary Islands). It has the ability to retain undischarged nematocysts from their preys and store them in the cnidosacs at the tips of cerata. The spawn is a convoluted spiral of white eggs laid on the hydroids they feed on.

Etymology

  • Learchis, of uncertain meaning, seems related to the Greek mythology, where there’s a story about Ino (a mortal queen of Thebes) and Athamas (a Boeotian king, son of Aeolus and Enarete) who hunted his own son Learchos as a stag and slew him. Classical authors like Bergh rarely explained the origins of the names they proposed, but they used to inspire in the Greek and Roman mythology.
  • Poica. No information available about the origin of the specific name.

Distribution
The present species is the first Atlantic member of the genus, and it has been found in Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Grenada, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Virgin Islands, USA and Venezuela. Also in Ghana, West Africa (Edmunds, 1968), Madeira (Cervera & Malaquias, unpubl. data), Azores (Moro, pers.comm.) and the Canary Islands (Moro, Bacallado y Ortea, 2010).

Known georeferenced records of the species: Learchis poica
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★★☆☆☆
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Learchis poica based on our own records.

More pictures

Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Judy Townsend
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica with spawn @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA 29-01-2012 by Lureen Ferretti
Learchis poica @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA by Sandra Edwards
Learchis poica @ Bonaire 1-08-2010 by Susan Coleman
Learchis poica @ Bonaire 1-08-2010 by Susan Coleman
Learchis poica @ Guadeloupe by Mélodie Caussat
Learchis poica @ Guadeloupe by Mélodie Caussat

Bibliography

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    Baba, K., and I. Hamatani. 1977. A new species tentatively referred to Antonietta, Antonietta janthina, from Japan (Nudibranchia: Eolidoidea: Facelinidae). Veliger 20(1):9-13.
    Ballesteros, M., E. Madrenas, and M. Pontes. 2023. OPK - Opistobranquis. (https://opistobranquis.info/).
    Caballer, M., J. Ortea, N. Rivero, G. Carias-Tucker, M. A. E. Malaquías, and S. Narciso. 2015. The opisthobranch gastropods (Mollusca: Heterobranchia) from Venezuela: an annotated and illustrated inventory of species. Zootaxa 4034 (2): 201–256.
    Cervera, J. L., G. Calado, C. Gavaia, M. A. E. Malaquías, J. Templado, M. Ballesteros, J. C. García-Gómez, and C. Megina. 2004. An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 20 (1-4): 1-111. L.
    Edmunds, M. 1968. Eolid Mollusca from Ghana, with further details of west Atlantic species. Bulletin of Marine Science 18(1):203-219.
    Edmunds, M. 1970. Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Tanzania. II. Eolidacea (Cuthonidae, Piseinotecidae and Facelinidae). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 39(1):15-57; tbls. 1-3; figs. 1-24.
    Edmunds, M. 2015. Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Ghana, Aeolidiidae, with consideration of several caribbean species. Journal of Conchology Vol. 42(2): 125-161.
    Edmunds, M. 1966. Protective mechanisms in the Eolidacea (Mollusca, Nudibranchia). Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 46(308):27-71, pls. 1-4.
    Edmunds, M. 1977. Larval development, oceanic currents, and origins of the Opisthobranch fauna of Ghana. Journal of Molluscan studies 43:301-308.
    Edmunds, M. 1964. Eolid Mollusca from Jamaica, with the description of two new genera and three new species. Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean 14 (1): 1-32.
    Edmunds, M., and H. Just. 1983. Eolid nudibranchiate mollusca from Barbados. Journal of Molluscan Studies 49 (3): 185-203.
    Frank, B. et al. 1998. Learchis poica accessed through: JaxShells.org on 2014-12-14. (http://www.jaxshells.org/poica.htm).
    Garcia, F. J., and H. Bertsch. 2009. Diversity and distribution of the Gastropoda Opisthobranchia from the Atlantic Ocean: A global biogeographic approach. Scientia Marina. 73: 153–160.
    Long, S. J. 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000. Bayside Books & Press, Tustin, CA, U.S.A. 672p.
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    Marcus, E. d. B. R., and E. G. Marcus. 1963. Opisthobranchs from the Lesser Antilles. Studies on the Fauna of Curacao and other Caribbean Islands 19(79):1-76.
    Marcus, Er., and Ev. Marcus. 1960. Opisthobranchs from American Atlantic warm waters. Bull. Mar. Sci. 10(2):129-203.
    Marcus, Er., and Ev. Marcus. 1970. Opisthobranchs from Curaçao and faunistically related regions. Studies on the fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands. 33: 1–129.
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    Picton, B. E. 1979. Caloria elegans, (Alder & Hancock) comb. nov Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, an interesting rediscovery from S W. England. J. Molluscan Stud. 45(1):125-130.
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    Rudman W.B. et al. 1998. Learchis poica accessed through: Sea Slug Forum on 2014-12-14. (http://seaslugforum.net/showall/learpoic).
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    Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Pontes, Miquel, Manuel Ballesteros, Enric Madrenas (2023) "Learchis poica" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 27/10/2016. Accessed: 30/09/2023. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=22612)

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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Sandra Edwards, Judy Townsend, Lureen Ferretti and specially to Anne DuPont by putting us in contact with her diving buddies who provided us the Florida pictures of Learchis poica illustrating the record of this species. Thank you very much as well to Susan and Rick Coleman by the Bonaire pictures of Learchis poica, that show a chromatic variation not present in Florida.