Tritonia nigritigris


Tritonia nigritigris Valdes, Lundsten & Wilson 2018.

This new deepwater species is typically tritoniid in shape. The notum has four very characteristic invaginations on each side. Gill projections give the body a ruffled appearance. Black pigment tapers away becoming white at the tail. Rhinophoral sheaths are grey.

This species were discovered during whale fall studies carried out by researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). The holotype was photographed and collected by the ROV Doc Ricketts (seen below). Named aptly after one of my favorite early California marine biologists Dr. Ed Ricketts (seen at left) from the classic John Steinbeck novel Cannery Row. This remotely operated vehicle has provided several new sea slug species finds along this coast while studying whale falls, methane seeps and seamounts. We will feature a couple of these in future BOW's.

This particular site was on The Guide Seamount, off Davenport, central California, at a depth of 1733m depth. Dense populations of of the isidid octocoral, Keratosis sp. were observed in the vicinity of the specimen and is its likely prey. The specimen was a whopping 82mm in length.

The species is named for broken black stripes reminiscent of those of a tiger.

Reference: Valdes,A. & Lundsten, L. & Wilson, N. (2018). Five new deep-sea species of nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Cladobranchia) from the Northeast Pacific. Zootaxa. 4526. 401. 10.11646/zootaxa.4526.4.1.

Dave Behrens
Sammamish, WA 98074
Oct. 2019
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com


Attention all you Sluggers, and you know who you are!

The NSSI 2nd edition is now available in ebook PDF and book form . The hard back version will become available Nov. 1st. Both will cost $65 (individually).

You will need to jump through a few hoops to get the electronic version as pdf distribution is protected by Adobe ID!! Please read the following to enable reading your electronic purchase!

This new 2nd Edition is updated and reorganized, including 185 new species. Among other features, the new edition includes additional photographs of species, an identification key, and an up-to-date classification reflecting the latest evolutionary relationships. The Indo-Pacific represents the largest expanse of tropical ocean in the world, stretching from the Indian Ocean coast of southern Africa and the Red Sea to the central Pacific of the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island and the Marquesas.

This region supports the most diverse marine fauna of any place in the world for most groups of marine organisms. The nudibranchs and sea slugs are no exception to this rule; there are about 3,000 described species of these organisms in the world and at least 40% of these have been found exclusively in the Indo-Pacific tropics. This book illustrates 2,138 Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs, including many undescribed species.


From left to right, Terry Gosliner, Angel Valdes, Dave Behrens La Jolla, Calif.

Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com
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