7 new seaslug species found in or close to the restoration reef

By doing extensive work led by our intern Emma Bogos we have searched for seaslugs inside and close to the restoration site to see how many species can be found in the area. Seaslugs are a group of different taxa including the most well known Nudibranchia, but also other taxa like Sacoglossa and Elysias. They are small slug-like creatures without outer shells and some of them do not get bigger than a few millimeters long!

Needless to say, finding and identifying seaslugs is an uphill battle that very few people have done in Cozumel so far. The macro photographers that have been taking pictures of these slugs for years have not identified the species and put them into iNaturalist, a citizen science data base where scientists from all over the world help you identify the species and provide big distribution maps showing where that species have been found earlier. All of this information can help scientists make assumptions about what environment the species live in, their ecology and how they change in numbers over time, and different times of the year. Vital information for protection of the species.

This project has led to new findings of seaslugs in the area. In total, 15 species of seaslugs were found in the restoration reef and its surrounding. 4 of these have never been registered in iNaturalist from the island of Cozumel before, and an additional 3 have never been registered in Mexico! The new seaslug species for Mexico are the Elysia zuleicae, Cyerce nicholasi and Trapania dalva.

The new species for Cozumel are Cyerce antillensis, Elysia subornata, Dendrodoris krebsii and the Aplysia parvula.

We also found a few species already known and registered to the island in the database iNaturalist, including Thuridilla picta, Aplysia dactylomela, Elysia crispata and Costasiella ocellifera.