Cuthona destinyae

Photo courtesy of Ali Hermosillo

Cuthona destinyae, Hermosillo and Valdes, 2007

The winter of 2004 (Jan-May) a brand new, 65´ boat, perfectly designed to dive named Destiny came to Puerto Vallarta. "Destiny", one of the Mikelson Long Range Nomads was delivered in San Diego to owners Steve and Hiro Drogin in 2003. It was desgined and built for long range crusing, diving, and photography All of us locals were very lucky back then to welcome Steve Drogin, Hiro Drogin, Captain Julie Jordan and engineer Doug Warner (photo) into our part of the ocean. During that time, we dove in murky cold water from Isla Isabel, Nayarit to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero. It would take me forever to tell all the stories and fond memories, so I will get right to the matter at hand.

While in Zihuatanejo, Dave Behrens and I jumped in the water for a regular dive and he saw there were egg masses on the hydroids that had grown on the hull of Destiny. So we scrapped it, put it in containers , photographed it and ended up finding loads and loads of this tinny undescribed Cuthona . Dave and I published a paper of the species we saw during our stay on board Destiny where we mentioned the species. Later on Angel Valdes (LA County Museum) and I described it as Cuthona destinyae, there was no better name for it. We want to thank Steve for all his kindness and support.

The body is translucent cream coloured. There are patches of black pigment scattered over the dorsum and sides of the body. The rhinophores are smooth with a black ring at their midpoint. There are whites flecks over the surface of the rhinophores and the entire body. The cerata are transparent at the tip. The core is light gold distally becoming brown to black approaching the base. It is known from Iztapa-Zihuatanejo (Mexico) to the Galapagos Islands.

Reference's :

Five new species of aeolid nudibranchs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) from the tropical eastern Pacific, Amer. Malac. Bull 22: 119-137

Mikelson Hook Ups, a newsletter of Mikelson Yachts

WEBMASTER'S NOTES :

It is a rare honor indeed to have one of our beloved sea slugs named after a boat! The only other instance that I know of this happening was the naming of Chromodoris marislae by Hans Bertsch back in 1973. The naming was in recognition of Richard Adcock and his dive boat the Marisla II. Many years ago, veteran dive buddy Jerry Allen was running dive trips on the Marisla II of which I was fortunate to participate in. The big game hunters on board back then looked askance at my slug collection activities, but what the heck, I was having just as much fun! Now the big game is just about gone, but sea slugs still abound! In closing, I want to echo Ali's remarks about Steve being such a great supporter of undersea research! Steve has been a prolific contributor to the Slug Site with all his great sea slug images! What more can be said. Our hats are off to you Steve and Hiro!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
March 2005

Ali Hermosillo and Dave Behrens Author: Pacific Coast Nudibranchs Co-Author Coral Reef Animals of the Indo Pacific Proprietor of Sea Challengers Natural History Books Send Dave mail at dave@seachallengers.com

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