Shells and Sea Life Formerly the Opisthobranch
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CO ?• ^^\ w /jr^, " r^,. to 3 0.9- SHELLS AND SEA LIFE FORMERLY THE OPISTHOBRANCH Volume 1 6, Number 5 Page 49 Living Guam Bubble Shell (Micromelo undatus) from 8 m off Cape Byron, northern New South Wales, Australia. Photograph by R. C. Willan. : Vol. 16(5): 50 SHELLSANDSEALIFE May1984 The Guam Bubble Shell Micromelo 1961; Marcus & Marcus, 1967; Abbott, 1974; Hum- frey, 1975). Pacific Ocean specimens display the same (Brugiere, 1792) in Australia undatus colour variation: black in Hawaii (Kay, 1979; Bertsch by Richard C. Willan & Johnson, 1981); black in the Philippines (Abrea, This attractive shelled opisthobranch is 1981 - though the illustration of the animal is grossly in recognizable by its smooth, involute shell marked, as if inaccurate); red in my Australian specimens; red the by an accurate computer plotter, with a mesh of three Solomon Islands (Quayle in Coleman, 1982). Separa- dark spirals and numerous, wavy, intersecting radial tions based on these colour differences appear over- in lines. The animal's capacious foot, which can reach 23 exact, as conchological features sometimes are the because the mm when fully extended, is margined in subtlest tur- Cephalaspidea (e.g. Marcus, 1977), quoise and gold and boldly white-spotted. The animal shows little variation in either Atlantic or sinuous head shield and infrapallial lobe carry white Pacific Oceans. Salisbury (1 983) mentioned the colour spots too, but their borders are yellow. The beauty of a of the animal's foot varied from pale green to slide living Micromelo undatus is never to be forgotten; a transparent white. Incidentally, I have a colour this time delight that, unfortunately, is seldom experienced by of a living specimen from South Africa, and shell's lines are reddish-black. It appears, Australians because of its uncommoness . Its range ex- the tends down the eastern coast of that continent to nor- therefore, that the two shell colour morphs are not in Atlantic or thern New South Wales, and it is near their southern discrete nor geographically clinal either limit that I have encountered three living specimens in Pacific populations. four years. The Guam Bubble must possess a veliger stage Actually one could hardly call my first specimen capable of long-distance transport to account for the "living". The animal was being devoured by a species' enormously wide distribution across the predatory mitre shell (Vexillum cadaverosum). tropical oceans. I suggest Micromelo undatus and M. However, the two specimens that I found subsequently guamensis are conspecific with the one species, which were very active and they survived well in the by priority should be M. undatus, widespread in the laboratory allowing me to observe and photograph Pacific and Atlantic. Rudman (1977b) reached this them (see colored illustration). I found all three same conclusion for another member of the same specimens between 8 and 10 metres on a substrate of family, Hydatina physis (Linneaus, 1758). clean sand and coral rubble supporting a little turfing algae. REFERENCES Seashells (2nd ed.) Van- The shell's opacity obscures the interesting features Abbott, R.T. 1974. American Nostrand Reinhold. 663 pp. of its mantle cavity - two raised ciliated ridges (raphes), Abrea, N.S. 1981. Description and illustration of a complex gill and a large rearward extension of the unknown cephalaspid from northern Mindanao, Philip- mantle cavity (pallial caecum) that extends as a spiral- pine Islands. Hawaiian Shell News 29 (9) : 9. Bertsch, H. & S. Johnson 1981. Hawaiian Nudibranchs ing tube from the right posterior corner of the cavity to Oriental Publishing Co. 112 pp. the very top of the visceral mass. Rudman (1972a) Humfrey, M. 1975. Sea Shells of the West Indies. Collins. studied the anatomy of Hawaiian Micromelo undatus 351pp. and Shore and concluded the species should be located in the Kay, E.A. 1979. Hawaiian Marine Shells. Reef Fauna of Hawaii. Section 4 : Mollusca. Bernice P. Bishop- family Hydatinidae on account of the animal's large, Museum Special Publication 64 (4). 653 pp. non-retractile and brightly-coloured animal, lack of Marcus, Eveline 1977. On the genus Tornatina and related operculum, relatively long oral tube, nervous system forms. The Journal of Molluscan Studies. Supplement 2. 35 and radular structure. pp. Marcus, Eveline & Ernst Marcus 1967. American the familial placement for Despite the certainty of Opisthobranch Mollusks. Studies in Tropical the Guam Bubble, doubt remains over its correct Oceanography, Miami 6. 256 pp. generic and specific names. Mr. Robert Burn of Quayle, N. 1982. Photograph of live Micromelo. P. 14, IN: Coleman, N. (Ed.) Underwater 2. Geelong, Australia, is currently investigating the Rosewater, J. 1975. An annotated list of the marine mollusks generic nomenclature. And there is controversy too of Ascenson Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Smithsonian about the specific name because of the shell's shape Contributions to Zoology 189. 41 pp. Rudman, W.B. 1977a. Studies on the primitive and coloration. Differences in shell shape between opisthobranch genera Bullina Ferussac and Micromelo called populations from the Pacific Ocean (presently Pilsbry. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 51(2) Micromelo guamensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)) and 105-119. Atlantic Ocean (Micromelo undatus (Brugiere, 1792)) Rudman, W.B. 1977b. The anatomy of the opisthobranch genus Hydatina and the functioning of the mantle cavity are not significant and the differences in colour of the and alimentary canal. Zoological Journal of the Linnean the shell - either red or black - appear to be lines on Society 51(2) : 121-139. merely intraspecific variation. Some specimens from Salisbury, R. 1983. Photograph of Micromelo shell from il- Guam. Hawaiian Shell News 31 (2) : 7 (page of shell the Atlantic Ocean (where the species is also widely lustrations). distributed) have black-lined shells (Rosewater, 1975) Warmke, G.L. & R.T. Abbott 1962. Caribbean Seashells. but others have red-lined shells (Warmke & Abbott, Livingston Publishing Co. 348 pp. May 1984 SHELLS ANDSEA LIFE Vol. 16(5): 51 Editor's Notes: Please consider joining and supporting your local malacological society or club. R. Tucker Abbott's ap- Several subscribers have expressed concern with peal in "Personal Notes" has sound reasoning. In addi- the expanded coverage of the Opisthobranch (see tion to the "National" shell organizations you should Jensen "Personal Notes" for example). I hope that also look at the "International," "Regional" and more everyone will gain with the expansion into all areas of "Local" shell groups.