New species of sea slug discovered in California

October 2010: Sometimes, treasures can be found in your own backyard - especially if you know what to look for. This is what happened to Jeff Goddard, project scientist with the Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara.

NEW DISCOVERY: The flabellina goddardi sea slug

Goddard was working in the tide pools at Carpinteria Reef, in Carpinteria State Park, California, when he found a new species of nudibranch - a group of sea slugs noted for their bright colours and delicate forms. Recognising it as new, Goddard carefully documented the living specimen before preserving it and sending it off to Terrence M. Gosliner, an authority on the taxonomy of sea slugs at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Goddard kept the slug in his lab for a few days, until it laid an egg mass, and was also able to observe its early development and hatching larvae.

The new sea slug has been named after Goddard.

'We need to find out where they are hiding'
‘The shallow-water nudibranch fauna of Southern California especially is well known, so it was pretty exciting to find a new species right under our noses here in Santa Barbara County,' said Goddard. ‘Only one specimen was found, so now we need to find out where more are hiding, what they feed on, and whom they interact with.'

Goddard said that he was honoured that Gosliner chose to name the new species after him. The scientific name is Flabellina goddardi, and it measures about 30mm long when stretched out and crawling. The genus Flabellina also includes the well-known ‘Spanish shawl' nudibranch, Flabellina iodinea. Goddardi is now the fifth species of Flabellina known from California.

Jeff Goddard at work

Goslinger says: ‘Flabellina goddardi is named for friend and colleague Jeff Goddard who found the only specimen of this distinctive species. Jeff is the consummate naturalist with superb powers of observation.'

For the scientific record, Goddard describes the new species as ‘characterised externally by its smooth rhinophores; long tail and cephalic tentacles; pointed foot corners; red and orange tipped cerata; and lack of pigmentation on the head, body and head tentacles'.

Goddard discovered the sea slug in 2008. As with many taxonomic discoveries, the findings often takes a couple of years for documentation, comparison with known species, and publication. Meanwhile Goddard and his colleagues will continue searching for more specimens of the newly described species.