HelmutCarl

Hello, today I got confirmation from the HELLENIC CENTRE FOR MARINE RESEARCH (Rhodes (Rhodos)) that my squids are in fact as far as it can be identified by photos to be Sepioteuthis lessoniana.

Hello, I do not think that it is Loligo vulgaris because for this species the finns of mine are to long and the body not cylindric enough and on the other hand for the Lessepsian migrant Sepioteuthis lessoniana the body matches but the fins are to short ... . For Loligo vulgaris I know two spots in Cyprus where it can be found on occasion.

During a shallow dive in only 3m deep water I came across this flock of squids. Any idea about identification? Unfortunately the visibility was very poor as it can be seen on the image where the squids fled away. Actually there was a second flock even closer to the shore but the visibility there made it impossible to take good pictures.

It is Telmatactis cricoides (Duchassaing 1850) for sure.

I actually do not know about aquaria near by but I can report the following: A member of the dive center I booked my dives with (Viking Divers - Larnaka) told me that he actually came across this fish three times last year (at Cape Greco, the Zenobia ship wreck and around the same spot where I found it) but had not seen it this year so far. And he told me he talked to several people but everyones response was to stop bragging about a just yellow fish. By the way he had no clear images of the fish.

Hi all! Near the village of Xylophagou/Cyprus/Eastern Mediterranean I found a few days ago at the end of the dive in 4m to 5m deep water an Acanthuridae (Surgeonfish) that looks for me very similar to the juvenile phase of Acanthurus coeruleus (Blue Atlantic Tang) but the distribution map does not really fit. An other idea was Ctenochaetus truncatus but again the distribution ... Any help in identification is appreciated.

It is the Redlip blenny Ophioblennius atlanticus. -- Helmut Simak

Hi mates, have you heard about the "Blenny week" already? It's all about us! (Three Salaria pavo (two males, one female) and one Gobius cobitis just curious what's going on discussing the news ) -- Helmut Carl Simak

Anthias are prone to lockjaw. Usually it goes away after a short while. This question now and then arises in aquarist fora. -- Helmut Carl Simak

Nice that You liked my flatworm. Anyway I had some more thoughts about your nudi. I asked Google the question "swellings on the rhinophores" and it revealed the following link: http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall/favoauri for Favorinus auritulus. Unfortunately the distribution does not match. But what I found when I entered "Favorinus Australia" were references for "Favorinus pannuceus" exclusively known from Victoria and the Bass Strait. To my disappointment I was not able to find any pictures or scientific description so far. I hope it helps Helmut Carl Simak

For the second flatworm I can imagine Thysanozoon sp. as well. I have a picture of a very similar species attached below from the Mediterranean (Paphos/Cyprus) which should be Thysanozoon brochii.

My guess for the nudi is Spurilla sp. You may want to have a look at Spurilla macleayi. -- Best regards Helmut Simak

Here a picture that shows the hole beauty of Lipophrys canevae. The picture was taken at Trieste/Italy where this fish and its close relative Liprophrys adriaticus, shown on the second picture, is quite common in shallow waters.

First sorry for the long delay in answering Your question, Leslie. Unfortunately it did not work out to fix this special moment with at least one picture. The problem was that I always lost focus on the worm with my camera in one and the torch in the other hand while snorkeling during night and the waves washing in. Even when the worm stands still my Canon G9 has troubles to put the focus right in place. I was quite sorry then because it was quite clear for me that I probably saw something (very) uncommon. Meanwhile I read all Your suggested articles and it looks like for me that there are probably two different species of Branchiomma around with Branchiomma bairdi as the closest match for at least some of my pictures. I added two more pictures which show clearly the different style of the worms in Cyprus Waters. (I know about color variations but but both styles are quite distinct and can be found across the isle.) And Yes, I already booked again for Cyprus at the end of November for two more weeks.

Firs to answer your question: No, I did not notice any release of eggs and/or sperm. But what I did was that I marked the place where one or the other of these worms settled after their swimming exercise just to find them again during daylight where they then rebuild their tubes in a couple of days. One more observation of movement: I was able to notice in an aquarium that one of the worms climbed up the hose from the sump some 40 cm into the main tank. By the way meanwhile I checked the EU MarBEF taxon database for European waters and there I found the following recorded list: Branchiomma bahusiense Johansson, 1927 Branchiomma boholense (Grube, 1878) Branchiomma bombyx (Dalyell, 1853) Branchiomma inconspicua (M. Sars in G.O. Sars, 1872) Branchiomma infarctum (Krøyer, 1856) Branchiomma luctuosum (Grube, 1869) Branchiomma lucullanum (Delle Chiaje in Quatrefages, 1866) Branchiomma moebii Knight-Jones, 1994 Branchiomma spongiarum Knight-Jones, 1994 Branchiomma vesiculosum (Montagu, 1815) The only one I know for sure that does not fit is Branchiomma vesiculosum (Montagu, 1815) syn. for Megalomma vesiculosum (Montagu, 1815). But for this worm an other question arises for me: It seems that in Cyprus waters where it is quite common do exist several color variations of this species. Of course I have pictures. And at the end thank You for welcoming me. I read this site for quite some time before I took my hart as a non native speaker of English and enrolled. -- Helmut Carl Simak