Worm ID from Florida

Help Leslie,

On Thursday I was diving in West Palm Beach, Fl. I turned over a rock and found this tiny purple animal.

At first I thought it was a flatworm, but realized it was not when I saw the "hole" It quickly moved down the rock in a pulsating motion. It was about 5-6mm in diameter. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks, Anne

Hi Anne - hope all is well.

Not specifically. I think it's a mollusc of some sort and the hole is its siphon. I can make out folds that's probably where the sides of the mantle meet on the back. I'll send a message to Pagojoe (Don Barclay, a snail specialist) to check out your post.

Hi Anne - hope all is well.

 

Not specifically. I think it's a mollusc of some sort and the hole is its siphon. I can make out folds that's probably where the sides of the mantle meet on the back. I'll send a message to Pagojoe (Don Barclay, a snail specialist) to check out your post.

Thanks Leslie, I'll look forward to hearing...

Hi Anne,

I'm about to step outside my area of expertise, but I'll give you a guess. I'm pretty sure it's a velutinid, probably a Lamellaria species. None of my references show more than a couple of live animal photos, and none looks very close to yours. I can't see any tentacles (or antennae, or "feelers"), but maybe you saw some as you watched it move? If it's a velutinid, it should have a thin internal shell. It looks like I can vaguely make out the internal shell in your photos. Here's a link to an Australian Lamellaria for comparison:

http://www.nudibranch.com.au/pages/2643b.htm

It's on a nudibranch page, but of course it isn't a nudibranch. Looks pretty similar?

Cheers,

Don

Hi Anne,

 

I'm about to step outside my area of expertise, but I'll give you a guess. I'm pretty sure it's a velutinid, probably a Lamellaria species. None of my references show more than a couple of live animal photos, and none looks very close to yours. I can't see any tentacles (or antennae, or "feelers"), but maybe you saw some as you watched it move? If it's a velutinid, it should have a thin internal shell. It looks like I can vaguely make out the internal shell in your photos. Here's a link to an Australian Lamellaria for comparison:

 

http://www.nudibranch.com.au/pages/2643b.htm

 

It's on a nudibranch page, but of course it isn't a nudibranch. Looks pretty similar?

 

Cheers,

Don

Thank you so much Don, for such a quick response!

It did look like there was an internal shell, I'll check all my photos more closely for any tentacles.

Thanks again, Anne