On May 30th, Anja Mares observed and photographed an individual of the nudibranch "Tritoniopsis cincta" at the dive site known as Cala el Bofill in Cadaqués.
This species had already been observed in France (Banyuls sur mer, Provot-Fol, 1937), in Spain (Cabo de Palos, Templado et al., 1988; Donostia, Cerviño Pousada, 2016) and in Italy (Gulf of Naples, Schmekel & Portmann, 1982; Sardinia, Trainito et al., 2019) but not yet in Catalonia making this observation the first record of the species on our coasts.
The observation was made at a depth of about 14 meters on algae, the specimen was about 5 mm long which suggests that it could be a juvenile. It is very similar to Tritonia nilsodhneri due to the whitish color of the body but in the case of Tritoniopsis cincta we also find the yellow colour present at the tips of the appendages of the mantle as well as the entire edge of the mantle and the tips of the rhinophoric sheaths.
Tritonia nilsodhneri Tritoniopsis cincta
Reference list:
Cerviño Pousada, J.M. In Pontes, M., Ballesteros, M. & Madrenas, E. (2012-2019) “Tritoniopsis cincta” in OPK Opistobranquis, published 01/11/2016, accessed 01/06/2020.
Pruvot-Fol, A. 1937. Etude des opisthobranches des côtes Nord de la Méditerranée provenant en majeure partie de Banyuls avec adjonction d’échantillon récoltés à Villefranche ainsi que dans quelques autres localités. Archives du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (6) 14: 35-74.
Trainito, E., Doneddu, M., & Furfaro, G. Tritoniopsis cincta (Pruvot-Fol, 1937)(Gastropoda, Nudibranchia): first record for the Sardinian sea (Italy) and new additional notes on its distribution and diet.
Cattaneo-Vietti, R., R. Chemello, and R. Giannuzzi-Savelli. 1990. Atlante dei nudibranchi del Mediterraneo. La Conchiglia, Rome 264 pp, 14 pls. (104 clr. ill), line drawings
Templado, J., A. A. Luque, and D. Moreno. 1988. Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento de los opistobranquios del sureste español. Iberus 8 (1): 15-23.