Lysidice ninetta

About Lysidice ninetta

Lysidice ninetta is retained from Appendix A, printed page 85, of the Bishop Museum’s 2004 harbor and nearby reef survey. The present-study row marks Kauaʻi stations Ka2 and Ka3, and the 1996 DeFelice compilation also marks Ka3. This documents the source’s historical identification and nearshore survey context; it does not establish present abundance, island-wide distribution or native status. The plate repair creates no new Kauaʻi observation.

The reconstructed whole animal follows the nominal dark morphology described by Iannotta and colleagues in 2009. Its rounded head bears two rounded eyes and three short, smooth occipital antennae. The central antenna is slightly longer; none extends beyond the head’s front. Dark reddish-brown anterior coloration, fine pale spots and early pale collars are strongest in smaller worms and can fade in larger adults. Repeated segments carry parapodia and chaetae, without branchial plumes. Starunov’s 2019 study of French material documents four pygidial cirri, the dorsal pair longer than the ventral pair, providing a primary reference for the complete posterior. The present reconstruction depicts a single individual; it asserts no parental care, sex, breeding event or locally measured age.

Historical species limits remain unresolved. Mediterranean molecular work separated strongly divergent forms, and the 2011 Caribbean revision distinguished species formerly confused with ninetta. Those studies do not identify the Kauaʻi voucher. This is an explicitly labeled nominal taxonomic reconstruction, not proof that the local material belongs to a verified Atlantic lineage. Jaws, aciculae, chaetal and reproductive characters and, where feasible, sequence evidence would be needed to reassess original material. The exposed ecological scene makes the entire animal visible and does not document a photographed Kauaʻi encounter. Local feeding, spawning dates and population trend remain unmeasured by this census entry.