Wrinkles September '07 Dive Planning Thread - La Jolla

[divekim]

If I can get some of the Terry FakeyThona's and those illusive Lion Nudis...


---
Ken

Okay, I just gotta know, what on earth are the fakeythonas?? Lion Nudi's, can you make it Friday morning, DP, we'll go find some Lions for ya...

Kim

 

[MissyP]

Okay, I just gotta know, what on earth are the fakeythonas?? Lion Nudi's, can you make it Friday morning, DP, we'll go find some Lions for ya...

Kim

I think he's referencing the "fake" Cuthona Divaes that we've been seeing all around the shores lately--- http://slugsite.us/bow2007/nudwk569.htm

... "In the last week I seem to have gotten an e-mail from every diver in San Diego asking if this weird beast they had just seen was a variation of Week 73 Cuthona divae . Well it isn’t. Seen in Terry’s photo above, it is Cumanotus sp. (species 245) in Eastern Pacific Nudibranchs .

Specimens are everywhere and are being reported as large, up to 40 mm in length. The main differences are: 1) The rhinophores are not smooth as in Cuthona, but weakly covered with low bumps, and more importantly are fused at the base, and 2) the ceratal cores are not a straight tube as in C. divae, but are broken, twisted and branched. Otherwise, externally really close. Cumanotus sp . also exhibits burrowing behavior which again sets it apart from Cuthona divae. "

 

[divekim]

Thanks Missy, thats what I was thinking but you know what happens when we assume.

The Cumanotus are difficult to pick out with their coloring and almost always being in the sand in the middle of no where. I only saw one on Saturday, by chance, as I passed an area of their eggs.

Kim

 

[MissyP]

Thanks Missy, thats what I was thinking but you know what happens when we assume.

The Cumanotus are difficult to pick out with their coloring and almost always being in the sand in the middle of no where. I only saw one on Saturday, by chance, as I passed an area of their eggs.

Kim

Do you happen to have a picture of the eggs? I always see the Cumanotus on the sand, usually nothing else in the near vicinity, so I'm curious what the eggs look like.. The ones I see are always by themselves- never seen them in sets or groups like the D. Iris..

 

[divekim]

Do you happen to have a picture of the eggs? I always see the Cumanotus on the sand, usually nothing else in the near vicinity, so I'm curious what the eggs look like.. The ones I see are always by themselves- never seen them in sets or groups like the D. Iris..

Hey Missy, I got a pic for you this morning, I've sent this to verify they are indeed Cumanous Eggs. The description I've been sent of them fits to a T and these are the only eggs out there I had never seen before the Cumanotus arrived.

You almost always see them near each other, a lot like the Iris eggs only smaller.

Kim

 

[MissyP]

Thanks Kim! They look tiny - I'll have to go look for some
I wonder what makes them (& D. Iris) lay eggs on sand rather than on the wall.. Seems like they'd get eaten or destroyed a lot easier on the sand...