Phylliroe lichtensteinii

Phylliroe lichtensteinii  Eschscholtz, 1825

• Phylliroe amboinensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832
• Phylliroe atlantica Bergh, 1871
• Phylliroe lichtensteini Eschscholtz, 1825
• Phylliroe rubra Quoy & Gaimard, 1832
• Phylliroe pelagica H. Adams & A. Adams, 1858
• Phylliroe roseum D’Orbigny, 1836

Description
Fish-like, laterally flattened body, up to about 55 mm in length, without papillae and completely transparent. The tail is short, less than 16% of the body length. The foot is reduced to a pedal gland not disrupting the body outline. The head, before the relatively small rhinophores, is directed downwards, with a terminal mouth. The anus is located on the right lateral side in the centre of the body. The digestive gland and other organs are visible through the skin by transparency. The digestive gland has no constriction in the middle, which is characteristic of Phylliroe lichtensteinii. Literature is pretty confuse with the species of Phylliroe, species determination traits range from the presence of a restriction in the digestive gland to the number of gonads, and then from the number of gonads: P.bucephala is said to have 2 gonads, while P.lichtensteinii is said to have from 3 to 5, but the fact is these beautiful species have been neglected in many studies and identification is not clear.

Biology
This species is hermaphroditic.  The juveniles have been reported to parasitise the medusae of the cnidarian Zanclea, attaching to the inside of the bell, on which they feed and remain until adulthood. In adulthood its diet is no longer restricted to Zanclea, although observations of feeding behaviour are sparse. Phylliroe has been seen approaching a swarm of the larvacean Oikopleura albicans from below, grabbing a specimen with its paired denticulate jaws and swallowing it in half a minute. Adults have also been observed to prey on the medusa Aequorea. This is a pelagic species that is highly bioluminescent and emits flashes of light when disturbed. Despite it seems to prefer the upper water layers, vertical distribution for this species suggests that it lives at a depth of about 60 meters (Fernández-Álamo, 1997) and, at night, participates in a vertical migration towards the surface. It does not like light, so when it is discovered by a diver, begins to swim towards deep water (L.Ianello, pers.comm.).

Etymology

• Phylliroe, from Greek “phyllon”, leaf + “roe”, water current, or water flow.
• Lichtensteinii, honors Martin Heinrich Lichtenstein, German physician, explorer and naturalist who, in 1844, published descriptions of animals collected around Australia. He worked at the Zoological Institute in Berlin.

Distribution
This species is known from the warm waters of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, also in the Mediterranean.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Phylliroe lichtensteinii

Sources:
OBIS GROC 2010-2011 Enric Madrenas João Pedro Silva Bernard Picton GBIF	OPK VIMAR Manuel Ballesteros M@re Nostrum Altres fonts Marine Regions

Videos

More pictures

Phylliroe lichtensteinii, pelagic nudibranch @ Blackwater, Roatan, Honduras in (Nudibase, Facebook) by Mauricio Riquelme (Aqualife Photography)

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 3-01-2017 by Linda Ianello

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 3-01-2017 by Linda Ianello

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 22-08-2015 by Linda Ianello

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 28-04-2016 by Linda Ianello

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 28-04-2016 by Linda Ianello

Phylliroe lichtensteinii by Judy Townsend

Phylliroe lichtensteinii 3-01-2017

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

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