Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Sacoglossa Plakobranchoidea Cyerce graeca

Cyerce graeca

Cyerce graeca  Thompson, 1988

Cyerce graeca @ Punta del Romaní, L'Escala, Spain 6-02-2016 by Enric Madrenas

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Tectipleura  

 

Superorder

Sacoglossa  

 

Superfamily

Plakobranchoidea  

 

Family

Hermaeidae  

 

Genus

Cyerce  

 

Species

Cyerce graeca  T. E. Thompson, 1988

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 140091).
Description
The body is translucent white, colored by a characteristic dark brown pattern which essentially covers the entire dorsum, except the area around the eyes, head, pericardial area, the area ahead of the rhinophores and their tips, but the transparency of the rest of the body often gives the animal an uniformly colored look. The cerata are very wide and somewhat inflated, very mobile and easily autotomized if the animal is disturbed, leaving behind these organs that change shape for hours to distract the attention of predators. The animal quickly regenerates the lost cerata. Both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the cerata are translucent white, except for a row of blunt brown digitations at the edges of the cerata that in some specimens appear as a brown line along the edge of each cerata, missing in the smaller cerata on the front of the animal. Small white scores were also observed forming a band at the tips of the cerata, corresponding to opalescent glands, most likely of defensive character. The digestive tract is dark green or almost black brown and can be seen by transparency in different parts of the body, both dorsal and ventral. All head tentacles are wound, the rhinophores bifurcated (characteristic of this family), of which the top one is colored brown but the lower one and oral tentacles are light colored. The previous propodial margin is bilabiate, and the foot has a transversal mesopodial slit. The anus is located latero-dorsally on the right side, visible as a light colored papilla, located right ahead of the pericardial prominence. The largest specimen Thompson found measured 11 mm in length.

This species bears some resemblance to the little studied Cyerce antillensis Engel, 1927, first described in Tobago, in the Caribbean, and later found in Curaçao and in Florida by Marcus & Marcus (1967, Plate 1) under the name Cyerce cristallina, Jamaica by Thompson (1977) and Bermuda by Clark (1984) and Jensen & Clark (1986). The shape of the radular teeth is similar, but there are important differences in the body color pattern in living specimens, which have wavy and soft pale brown limbs in Cyerce antillensis, compared with dark brown digitate ceratal limbs of Cyerce graeca. Marcus & Marcus (1970) attempted to set objective anatomical criteria to distinguish the two species from the Caribbean, especially stressing the importance of examining the pharynx, specifically a laminate muscular organ attached to the back of the buccal mass of the animal. This had a bulbous shape in Cyerce graeca, more like that of Cyerce antillensis than the illustrated by the same authors of Cyerce cristallina.

Biology
Like all sacoglossans, this species feeds on algae. Specimens have been found on Flabellia petiolata (Thompson, 1988) and other hard substrate algal growths (Petrusek, 2003) and (Atero, 2015) and also under stones (Pontes, 2016). This species is a extremely rare observation because of its excellent cryptic capabilities, blending it with the surrounding environment. It has been found from the surface down to 30 meters of depth.

Etymology

  • Cyerce, of uncertain meaning, seems related to the Greek mythology. Classical authors like Bergh rarely explained the origins of the names they proposed, but they used to be inspired by the Greek and Roman mythology.
  • Graeca. From Latin “graecus”, Greek, from Greece.

Distribution
Thompson’s original description was based on 3 specimens of about 11mm collected in Greece (Saronis, 28/07/1982; Kilini (type locality), 3/06/1986 and Lagonisi, 17/06/1986). More specimens were later found near Sumartin, Brac Island, Croatia (Adam Petrusek, 7/09/2003, Sea Slug Forum) at a depth of 25-30 meters, always on algae growing on hard substrates. There are also pictures in Internet of 5mm specimens off the coast of Antibes, France (Gilles Cavignaux, 7/05/2009, limaces of Rève) and (Paul Henri Adoardi, 1/06/2010, Photo Bio Sous-Marine) in very shallow water. Some specimens found on the island of Mallorca (Nando Darder, 04/07/2005, GROC) and (Javier Atero, 15/07/2015, Flickr) would represent the first citations for Spain, the second also found in shallow water. Two more findings, the first in the Cala Ventosa, Sant Feliu de Guixols (Xavier Salvador, 26/08/2015) in less than one meter of water and a second 20mm specimen in Punta del Romani, L’Escala (Miquel Pontes , 6/02/2016) in 12 meters of water correspond to the first reports for Catalonia and the whole Iberian Peninsula. There are two unique citations outside the Mediterranean, the first in Azores (Wirtz & debelius, 2003 – p.193) as Cyerce antillensis, although a detailed observation of the photo published suggests that it really is Cyerce graeca, because it does not fully match Cyerce antillensis description. The second report (Wirtz, 2005) corresponds to a finding in shallow water (a few cm.) in a natural pool in Porto Moniz (Madeira).

Known georeferenced records of the species: Cyerce graeca
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 Cyerce graeca based on our own records.

More pictures

Cyerce graeca by Gilles Cavignaux
Cyerce graeca
Cyerce graeca (id by Á.Valdés) @ Faial, Azores
Cyerce graeca (id by Á.Valdés) @ Faial, Azores by Peter Wirtz
Cyerce graeca @ Mallorca 15-07-2015 by Javier Atero
Cyerce graeca @ Mallorca 15-07-2015 by Javier Atero
Cyerce graeca @ Mallorca 15-07-2015 by Javier Atero
Cyerce graeca @ Punta del Romaní, L’Escala, Spain 6-02-2016 by Enric Madrenas
Cyerce graeca @ Punta del Romaní, L’Escala, Spain 6-02-2016 by Enric Madrenas
Cyerce graeca by Enric Madrenas

Bibliography

    Ballesteros, M., E. Madrenas, and M. Pontes. 2016. Actualización del catálogo de los moluscos opistobranquios (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 6: 1–28.
    Ballesteros, M., E. Madrenas, and M. Pontes. 2023. OPK - Opistobranquis. (https://opistobranquis.info/).
    Bielecki, S., G. Cavignaux, J. M. Crouzet, and S. Grall. 2011. Des limaces de rêve.
    Canessa, M., G. Bavestrello, R. Cattaneo-Vietti, G. Furfaro, M. Doneddu, A. Navone, and E. Trainito. 2021. Rocky substrate affects benthic heterobranch assemblages and prey/predator relationships. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 38: 539-558. 261: 1–13.
    Furfaro, G., F. Vitale, C. Licchelli, and P. Mariottini. 2020. Two Seas for One Great Diversity: Checklist of the Marine Heterobranchia (Mollusca; Gastropoda) from the Salento Peninsula (South-East Italy). Diversity. 12: 171.
    Jensen, K. R., and K. B. Clark. 1983. Annotated checklist of Florida ascoglossan Opisthobranchia. Nautilus 97: 1-13.
    Long, S. J. 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000. Bayside Books & Press, Tustin, CA, U.S.A. 672p.
    Marcus, E. 1982. Systematics of the genera of the order Ascoglossa (Gastropoda). Journal of Molluscan Studies Suppl. 10: 1-31.
    Marcus, Ev., and H. P. I. Hughes. 1974. Opisthobranch mollusks from Barbados. Bulletin of Marine  Science 24(3):498-532.
    McDonald, G. 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia. 2nd Online Edition, Annotated. 1072 pp  Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz. (http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8115h0wz).
    Ortea, J. 1981. Moluscos opistobranquios de las Islas Canarias Parte I: Ascoglosos. Boletín del Instituto Español de Oceanografía 6: 180-199.
    Ortea, J. A., and J. Templado. 1988. Una nueva especie de Cyerce Bergh, 1871 (Opisthobranchia: Ascoglossa) de la isla de Cuba. A New Species Of Cyerce Bergh 1871 Opisthobranchia Ascoglossa From Cuba. Iberus 8(1):11-14.
    Ortea, J., and J. Templado. 1990. A new species of the genus Cyerce Bergh, 1871 (Opisthobranchia: Ascoglossa) from Cape Verde Islands. Veliger. 33: 202–205.
    Prkić, J., A. Petani, Ð. Iglić, and L. Lanča. 2018. Stražnjoškržnjaci Jadranskoga Mora: Slikovni Atlas i Popis Hrvatskih Vrsta / Opisthobranchs of the Adriatic Sea: Photographic Atlas and List of Croatian Species. Ronilaćki Klub Sveti Roko, Bibinje.
    Rudman W.B. et al. 1998. Cyerce graeca accessed through: Sea Slug Forum on 2014-12-14. (http://seaslugforum.net/showall/cyergrae).
    Templado, J., and R. Villanueva. 2010. Checklist of Phylum Mollusca. pp. 148-198 In Coll, M., et al., 2010. The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats. PLoS ONE 5(8):36pp.
    Thompson, T. E. 1988. Eastern Mediterranean Opisthobranchia Oxynoidae Polybranchiidae Stiligeridae Sacoglossa. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 54: 157–172.
    Trainito, E., and M. Doneddu. 2014. Nudibranchi del Mediterraneo, 2nd. ed. Il Castello.
    Wirtz, P. 2005. Eight gastropods new for the marine fauna of Madeira. Arquipélago, Life & Marine  Sciences [Bulletin of the University of the Azores] 22A:77-80.
    Wirtz, P., and H. Debelius. 2003. Mediterranean and Atlantic invertebrate guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim, Germany.
    WoRMS Editorial Board. 2023. World Register of Marine Species. WoRMS. (http://www.marinespecies.org).

    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) "Cyerce graeca" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 14/09/2014. Accessed: 02/12/2023. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=14401)

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