Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Doridina Doridoidei Polyceroidea Aegires sublaevis

Aegires sublaevis

Aegires sublaevis  Odhner, 1932

Aegires sublaevis by Nani Díez Bosch

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Doridina  

 

Infraorder

Doridoidei  

 

Superfamily

Onchidoridoidea  

 

Family

Aegiridae  

 

Genus

Aegires  

 

Species

Aegires sublaevis  Odhner, 1932

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 138707).
Description
Small dorid nudibranch with a maximum recorded length of 12 mm. The body is tough and rigid. The base colour of the body is white to yellowish, translucent. There are some brownish grey patches, each edged by a ring of the opaque background coloration more apparent in mature specimens. There is a low dorsal ridge that widens to the back of the body, forming a triple gill cover, and splitting to the front of the body besides the rhinophoral sheaths. The Atlantic specimens have a distinct lateral ridge or mantle edge on each side of the body. There are few stalked dorsal tubercules typical of other Aegires species, but there are some rounded bumps scattered over the dorsum. It has no cerata. There are two white smooth rhinophores. Specimens from the Atlantic and Mediterranean have one ring of dark pigment on the rhinophores whereas those from the Galápagos have two dark rings. There is a bilobed oral veil in the anterior part of the body, however there are no propodial nor oral tentacles. The foot is not colored nor has any appendages.

Biology
It is reported to feed on the sponge Clathrina coriacea (Ros, 1977 – Canary Islands) and Clathrina sp. (Thompson, 1981 – Bermuda) where its colour pattern, specifically the dark patches distributed throughout the body, match that of the sponge. This species is easy to distinguish from related species by its colouration and shape. It is considered uncommon.

Etymology

  • Aegires. From “Aegir”, god of the Sea in norse mythology.
  • Sublaevis. From latin “sub”, under, not quite + “laevis”, smooth. Not quite smooth.

Distribution
This species has been reported from the Mediterranean Sea (Schmekel and Portmann, 1982), the Canary Islands (Odhner 1932; Altimira and Ros 1979; Pérez Sánchez, Bacallado and Ortega 1991; Ortea et al. 1996), Panama (Meyer, 1977), Bermuda (Thompson 1981) and Guadalupe (Ortea et al. 2012). There is another report from the Galápagos Islands (Fahey & Gosliner, 2004) which represents the first record of this species from the Pacific, identical in every aspect to the Atlantic specimens but for a second rhinophoral ring.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Aegires sublaevis
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 Aegires sublaevis based on our own records.

Videos

Aegires sublaevis @ La Herradura, Granada by Fernando Aguado

More pictures

Aegires sublaevis 11mm @ Dwejra, Gozo, Malta 5m 29-07-1994
Aegires sublaevis @ Taliarte, Gran Canaria by Jose Juan Calderín Peñate (2015)
Aegires sublaevis @ Taliarte, Gran Canaria by Jose Juan Calderín Peñate (2015)
Aegires sublaevis @ Taliarte, Gran Canaria by Jose Juan Calderín Peñate (2015)
Aegires sublaevis @ Taliarte, Gran Canaria by Jose Juan Calderín Peñate (2016)
Aegires sublaevis by Nani Díez
Aegires sublaevis by Nani Díez
Aegires sublaevis by Nani Díez
Aegires sublaevis @ Cala Moli, Eivissa 3.06.2021 by Joan Pereyra
Aegires sublaevis @ L’Escala by Enric Madrenas

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 (2012-2025) "Aegires sublaevis" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 11/09/2014. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=14120)