Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Cladobranchia Aeolidioidea Phidiana lynceus

Phidiana lynceus

Phidiana lynceus  Bergh, 1867

Phidiana lynceus @ La Laja, Gran Canaria by José Carlos Galens

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

Phidiana  

 

Species

Phidiana lynceus  Bergh, 1867

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 181239).
Synonyms

  • Phidiana brevicauda Engel, 1925
  • Phidiana selencae Bergh, 1879

Description
Elongated body up to 30 mm in length, has a great chromatic variability, which has led many misidentification of species that subsequently had to be synonimized with the original description by Rudolph Bergh. Some descriptions indicate that it has the back of orange color, with a blue stripe that runs down the middle of the back and orange sides, others describe the body of dark color, even greenish, but the most common pattern is translucent gray body color with a characteristic narrow, white dorsal midline, which bifurcates between the rhinophores and continues to the oral tentacles, and another white line running along the sides of the body, below the cerata. The front part of the foot is prominent and slightly rounded. The cerata are elongated, brown with a white tip. Oral tentacles are relatively long and have an orange pigmentation on the inner side, as surrounding the mouth. The rhinophores are ringed, have a translucent base, a more or less defined orange band in the middle and a yellowish tip. The coloration of the head, oral tentacles and rhinophores is very variable, which has caused some confusion in the taxonomy.

Biology
It feeds on the polyps of the hydrarian Myrionema amboinense (the animal is feeding on them in the video below), a species harboring zooxantella algae in its tissues. It is believed that Phidiana lynceus separates the photosynthetic zooxanthellae and the stinging nematocysts of the hydrarian before digesting it. Both types of cells remain active in the nudibranch tissues: zooxanthellae perform photosynthesis and complement the nutrition of the animal, while nematocysts migrate to the tips of the cerata where they are stored in the white tips (the cnidocysts) as a defence against potential predators. However, cases of attack and cannibalism have been observed in captive specimens, since the absence of hydrarians make them seeking food in other specimens of the same species, a behavior that seems to be quite common among larger aeolidaceans (Marcus, 1955: 471; Lance, 1962: 159; Edmunds, 1964: 18).

Etymology

  • Lynceus, from Latin “lyncea”, lynx, caracal.

Distribution
Phidiana lynceus is common in shallow waters, mangroves, rocky habitats and reefs. It has been cited in both the western coasts and the eastern coasts of the Atlantic Ocean: in the East it has been reported on the coast of Ghana and the Canary Islands (García-García et al., 2008; Skoglund, 2002) while the West it has been cited in Florida, Mexico (East coast of Yucatan), Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Bahamas, Jamaica, Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and the coast of São Paulo) in several papers (García-García et al, 2008;. Keen, 1971; Sanvicente-Añorve et al, 2012;. Skoglund, 2002; Valdes et al. 2006). There are some reports of this species in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Panama (Bertsch, 1979; Keen, 1971; Skoglund, 2002) and in Galapagos (James, 2013).

Known georeferenced records of the species: Phidiana lynceus
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 Phidiana lynceus based on our own records.

Videos

‘The Lynx Nudibranch’ from Coral Morphologic on Vimeo.

More pictures

Phydiana lynceus @ Veril de Taliarte (Gran Canaria) 4-03-2016 by José Juan Calderín Peñate
Phydiana lynceus @ Veril de Taliarte (Gran Canaria) 4-03-2016 by Jose Juan Calderín Peñate
Phydiana lynceus @ Playa de las Canteras, Gran Canaria by Alberto Navarro
Phidiana lynceus @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida
Phidiana lynceus @ Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida 3-06-2012 by Anne Dupont
Phidiana lynceus @ Gran Canaria by Sabina López
Phidiana lynceus @ Gran Canaria by Sabina López
Phidiana lynceus @ Gran Canaria by Mario Matute
Phidiana lynceus @ Gran Canaria by Mario Matute

Bibliography

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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) "Phidiana lynceus" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 15/03/2016. Accessed: 22/09/2023. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=21516)

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