Hermaea cubana Caballer & Ortea, 2013
WoRMS Taxonomic Information
Current classification
| Superdomain | Biota |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Mollusca |
| Class | Gastropoda |
| Subclass | Heterobranchia |
| Infraclass | Euthyneura |
| Subterclass | Tectipleura |
| Superorder | Sacoglossa |
| Superfamily | Plakobranchoidea |
| Family | Hermaeidae |
| Genus | Hermaea |
| Species | Hermaea cubana Caballer & Ortea, 2013 |
Translucent body with scattered reddish or brownish red blotches. Snow-white granules all over integument, including head, rhinophores, cerata and cardiac area. Oral appendages absent. Rhinophores sharpen and directed downwards, not as long as the longest cerata. Eyes behind rhinophores base. Anterior border of foot orange tinged, bilobated and laterally angulated. Tail long and sharp, projected behind last pair of cerata. Cardiac area oval. Digestive gland reddish or brownish red; translucent during starvation; the branches in the dorsum join in the tail but not ahead of the cardiac area. Digestive gland inside cerata branching cross-like near the tip. Each side of the body with 9-10 cerata in a simple row. Cerata translucent, with snowwhite granules and red spots, club-shaped, wider in distal third, with 4 tubercles, one for each branch of digestive gland. Hermaphroditic gland white, visible through sole, with 8-10 ovotestis grouped from neck to mid-body. Anus in cardiac area. Gonopore on right side, laterally below eye.
Biology
Lives in the intertidal zone on filamentous red algae on rocks, 0-8 m depth in open shores, not in eutrophic or brackish water.
Similar species
The way in which the digestive gland branches inside the cerata is, usually, a very useful characteristic to distinguish species of the genus Hermaea. In both Hermaea cubana and H. cruciata, the gland divides at the distal end of each cerata cross-like, thus, to clearly establish the differences between them, other characters must be used. Compared to H. cruciata, H. cubana is smaller sized and has different body color (H.cubana is translucent with red spots while H.cruciata is crystalline without any red pigment); H. cubana has shorter rhinophores and lacks any oral appendages, and it has not an stalked anus, which is actually in the cardiac area. H. cruciata has the eyes surrounded by clear areas; both branches of the digestive gland in the dorsum join ahead the cardiac area and there is one central cera in the connection area.
Etymology
- Hermaea. Derived from Hermes, character in Greek mythology.
- Cubana. In honor to the people inhabiting Cuba and also referring to the name of the country, in which its type locality is found.
Distribution
Cuba, from Havana to Guanahacabibes Peninsule. Also reported from West Palm Beach Florida, USA, and from the Canary Islands, with cites from La Graciosa, Lanzarote (Ortea et al., 2003 as H.cruciata) and many recent reports from Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote by Dennis Rabeling (iNaturalist), so it is assumedly an amphiatlantic species.
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Abundance
| Western Mediterranean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Eastern Mediterranean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Atlantic Ocean: | ★☆☆☆☆ |
This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Hermaea cubana based on our own records.
More pictures
Bibliography
Further reading
Cite this article as:
Pontes, Miquel (2025) "Hermaea cubana" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 07/03/2025. Accessed: 07/09/2026. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=46158)
