-
| 
-
| 
-
|
Volcano limpets (Fissurella volcano) and one file limpet
(Lottia limatula) on the left.
| 
-
| 
-
|
-
| 
a sipunculan (peanut worm), Themiste pyroides
| 
-
|
-
| 
-
| 
A small parasitic eulimid snail first found by Bio 317 student,
Courtney, who is undertaking a study with me, plus small snail expert, Patrick LaFollette.
We plan to report on its first noted occurrence in southern California and its host association.
This is the third time we have found it in SoCal in the last month or so. It is consistently on the
banded brittle star, Ophionereis annulata.
|
-
| 
a predatory polyclad flatworm, Enchiridium punctatum
| 
Lepidozona pectinulata
|
-
| 
Interesting details on its brilliant colors:
The Spanish shawl nudibranch (Flabellina iodinea) "feeds on a species of hydroid (Eudendrium ramosum), which possesses a pigment called astaxanthin.
This pigment gives the Spanish shawl nudibranch its brilliant color. In the Spanish shawl nudibranch, the astaxanthin
shows up in 3 different states, creating the purple, orange and red colors found on this species." -
From 2017 web article by Jennifer Kennedy, also quoted by Wikipedia.
| 
GA for Bio 317 and grad student with me, Newton, is studying the
latitudinal and vertical distribution of three difficult to distinguish species of the chiton genus, Nuttallina, in southern
and central California.
|
A iridescent polychaete of the genus, Lumbrineris, from under a rock.
Thanks to Dr. Nora Foster and Dr. Leslie Harris for help with identification.
| 
Acanthochitona avicula is common at Crystal Cove but not reported north of Los Angeles Co., CA.
Its southern range extends around the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.
| 
Okenia rosacea (Hopkins' rose nudibranch)
|
-
| 
-
| 
Stenoplax conspicua (conspicuous chiton)
and still-unidentified brittle star
|
-
| 
-
| 
A conspicuous chiton with a small clam (perhaps Mytella sp.?) semi-attached, perhaps an accidental
association.
|
Chlorostoma aureotincta (guilded turban snail)
| 
-
| 
-
|
-
| 
Acanthochitona avicula
| 
-
|
-
| 
Cyanoplax keepiana (Keep's chiton)
| 
-
|
-
| 
An unusual ribbed mussel under investigation
| 
-
|
-
| 
Chlorostoma gallina (speckled turban snail)
| 
-
|
-
| 
Pagurus samuelis in a Maxwellia gemma shell
(placed well above its normal preferred habitat)
| 
Above the limpet (probably Lottia conus,
my very tentative identification of this large barnacle as Menesiniella aquila is based on Google Image searching
of the species treated in the barnacle key of the following account:
"Large, common in low intertidal and subtidal on pilings and rocks in bays; rare north of San Francisco."
-- Source: Light and Smith Manual
|
-
| 
-
| 
-
|
Under Construction!