aeolid nudibranch Notaeolidia depressa

Notaeolidia depressa has been recorded in Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula and Bouvet Island from depths of 30 to 429 meters [1,2]. The body of N. depressa is translucent white and its brown or red digestive gland shows through the body wall and cerata [1]. N. depressa has been recorded at lengths up to 6.5 centimeters in fixed specimens [1].

Notaeolidia depressa has one to two longitudinal rows of cerata numbering about one hundred with the larger cerata of being innermost (N. gigas has at least 3 rows of cerata) [1]. N. depressa has white pigment on cerata tips, rhinophores and foot margin and sometimes the oral tentacles [1]. The genus Notaeolidia is known only from Antarctica [1].

Taxonomic Note: N. rufopicta, N. robsoni, N. subgigas (Odhner, 1944), N. alutacea, and N. flava were synonymized under N. depressa [1].

1: Zoologica Scripta 19(3):309-330, 1990; 2: Polar Biology 29(2):83-96, 2006

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