Cuthona speciosa

Cuthona speciosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia clade Dexiarchia clade Cladobranchia clade Aeolidida
Superfamily:	Fionoidea
Family:	Tergipedidae
Subfamily:	Cuthoninae
Genus:	Cuthona
Species:	C. speciosa
Binomial name
Cuthona speciosa (Macnae, 1954)

Cuthona speciosa, common name the "candy nudibranch", is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tergipedidae.

Distribution

The candy nudibranch is endemic to South Africa. It is found from the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula to Port Elizabeth, intertidally to at least 30 m.^[1]

Description

The candy nudibranch is a vividly coloured nudibranch, having a yellow-orange body and turquoise or purple cerata with yellow tips. The rhinophores are smooth and usually also yellow-orange, although they make take on the colours of the cerata. The nudibranch grows to 20 mm.

Ecology

The candy nudibranch eats hydroids of the genus Sertularella.^[1] In common with other aeolid nudibranchs, the cerata of the candy nudibranch aid in respiration but also contain extensions of the digestive system. The candy nudibranch eats the hydroid and passes its nematocysts unharmed through its digestive system to the tips of its cerata. Here the nematocysts mature and are then used by the nudibranch for its own defence. It is probable that the bright colours of the candy nudibranch serve to advertise to predators that it is toxic.

Candy nudibranchs are hermaphrodites. Their egg mass is a spiral collar of orange eggs.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gosliner, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
2. ^ Zsilavecz, G. 2007. Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay ISBN 0-620-38054-3