Crimora papillata

Crimora papillata (Alder & Hancock, 1862)

Crimora papillata @ L'Escala by Enric Madrenas

Description
It is a species that can reach a length over 30 mm in European Atlantic waters, but measures less than 15 mm in the Mediterranean. The color of the body varies from white (mainly in european North Atlantic specimens) to a more or less strong yellowish tint, but always semitransparent, so some organs can be seen through the integument. The back is not smooth but has a lot small yellow or orange tubercles unevenly scattered on it, that can also be found in the margins of the mantle. The anterior margin of the head has a series of irregular tubercles, bifurcated or trifurcated and pointy. The side walls of the body and the back of the tail also have tubercles. The rhinophores have an upper laminated zone with up to 15 lamellae and the base portion is partially transparent; the rinophoric sheath is slightly elevated and its upper edge is smooth. In the rear of the dorsum the are 3 gill leaves, joined at the base and directed backwards, which are coloured semitransparent but have an orange central axis. The gill leaves are bipinnate and simply contractile. Slightly ahead of the gill there is the cardiac region, if observed by stereomicroscope heart contractions can be seen by transparency. The foot is relatively narrow, in its anterior region it forms two short propodial tentacles; it tends to widen backwards, forming a tail that protrudes the back and the sides of the animal’s mantle. The mouth appears as a longitudinal slit in the middle of a large, semicircular oral veil.

Biology
This species is usually found in the infralittoral zone, from 5 to 50 m depth, usually on or near the bryozoan colonies it feeds on, such as Bugula sp., Chartella papyracea, Ch.tenella, Flustra foliacea, Securiflustra securifrons or Membranipora membranacea. On the coasts of Catalonia this species has been observed spawning on the bryozoan Flustra foliacea; the spawn consist of a narrow ribbon of about 1.5 mm wide forming an irregular spiral wound two turns and a half and with a size of about 9 x 6 mm. Eggs, about 80-90 microns in diameter, are yellow, having about 12-13 eggs across the width of the ribbon.

Etymology

• Crimora, genus described by Alder & Hancock in 1862, dedicated to the daughter of Rinval, a heroine of Gaelic poetry that, in the Poems of Ossian, died of grief after mistakenly killing Connal, the love of his life.
• papillata means that if has papillae, according to the glossary of latin names by Bernard Picton at his web site Nudibranchs of the British Isles

Distribution
This species, after being described by Alder & Hancock in 1862 is not mentioned again until nearly 100 years later when Gantés (1956) finds it in the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Shortly after it is cited in the Mediterranean (Banyuls-sur-Mer, Haefelfinger, 1962; Naples, Schmekel, 1968). Ros (1975) certifies its presence in Iberian waters by collecting several specimens in Fuenterrabía. Today it is widely known in all European Atlantic coasts, from Ireland and the British isles to the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary islands. In the Iberian Peninsula it has been cited in all Atlantic and Mediterranean shores, also known in the Balearic islands (Darder, 2011). In the Catalan coast it has been observed in different localities of the Costa Brava, including the Medes islands and the Formigues islands.

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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

• AsturNatura
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BiologiaMarina.org
• CIB - Club Immersio Biologia
• DORIS
• El Litoral de Granada
• Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland
• Flickr pictures
• GROC
• Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera
• NCBI GenBank
• OBIS - Search by Taxon
• Scottish Nudibranchs
• Sea Slug Forum
• World Register of Marine Species

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