Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Doridina Doridoidei Doridoidea Aldisa banyulensis

Aldisa banyulensis

Aldisa banyulensis (Pruvot-Fol, 1951)

Aldisa banyulensis by Enric Madrenas

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Doridina  

 

Infraorder

Doridoidei  

 

Superfamily

Chromodoridoidea  

 

Family

Cadlinidae  

 

Genus

Aldisa  

 

Species

Aldisa banyulensis  Pruvot-Fol, 1951

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 138735).
Description
The specimens of this species are about 15 mm long and are reddish with the central region of the dorsum slightly darker due to the internal organs. Most of the animals also have two oblique and somewhat whitish strips on each side of the body. Two small oval dark-red areas can be seen in the dorsum of the animal, one located between the two rhinophores and the other, with a pentagonal outline, located in front of the gill area. Both dark areas can be outlined by a thin whitish line. The back is covered with bumps. Some are large, with a cilindrical-conical shape, and are arranged more or less in circles, while the other are very small bumps, not visible to the naked eye, and located between the first. The rhinophores are small and reddish. The gill consists of 8 unipinnate branchial leaves colored reddish brown, somewhat darker than the back of the animal. The orifice of the branchial sheath has about 10 small rounded tubercules. In ventral view the mantle, colored light red, completely surrounds the foot and shows a fine reticula due to mantle spicules. The foot is bright red but, by transparency, shows some internal organs colored dark brown or whitish. The mouth lacks digitiform oral palps, but has two small globose bumps, one on each side of the mouth.

Biology
This species usually lives under rocks where encrusting sponges live, from very shallow depths. Some authors have cited the siliceous sponge Hemimycale columella as its food species. This species makes a spawn with few large (over 200 microns), red colored eggs. Another similar species, Aldisa smaragdina, has a similar coloration but has only 5 branchial leaves with a greenish colored rachis and its spawn has more eggs but of smaller size (130 microns), and it is associated with the sponge Phorbas fictitius.

Etymology

  • Aldisa. Probably related to an Iceland viking saga of the same name.
  • Banyulensis. Related to the village of Banyuls sur Mer, in the French Languedoc, Roussillon, where there is an important oceanographic station.

Distribution
Aldisa banyulensis is a species of mediterranean distribution. In the Iberian Peninsula has been cited in the Strait of Gibraltar, the coasts of eastern Andalusia, the southeast area, in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In some of these areas coexists with A. smaragdina, a species of Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution. In the Catalan coast it is found in different localities of the Costa Brava such as Llafranc and Es Caials (Cadaqués).

Known georeferenced records of the species: Aldisa banyulensis
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 Aldisa banyulensis based on our own records.

Videos

 

More pictures

Aldisa banyulensis
Aldisa banyulensis gill detail by Luis Sánchez Tocino
Aldisa banyulensis rhinophore detail by Luis Sánchez Tocino
Aldisa banyulensis @ Costa Brava by Manuel Ballesteros
Aldisa banyulensis @ Costa Brava by Miquel Pontes
Aldisa banyulensis @ Costa Brava by Miquel Pontes
Aldisa banyulensis @ Costa Brava by Manuel Ballesteros

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:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Aldisa banyulensis" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 16/05/2012. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=478)