Author: Undescribed

Order: Nudibranchia  Family: Chromodorididae

Maximum Size: 18 mm

Sightings: Ambon, Indonesia; Whitsundays

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Chromodoris sp. 06 Undescribed

An undescribed species of Chromodoris that at first glance could be mistaken for some other described and undescribed species. The differentiation is in the detail.

Chromodoris sp. 06 is elongate-oval in shape, flattened in profile, rising up around the gill pocket and with a mantle that completely covers the foot apart from a small section of protruding tail. Size is recorded up to 18 mm.

The mantle has a creamy-white background colour with black and dark brown spots and streaks, a few being lighter to pass for orange. Grey pigment extends out around the darker spots. The mantle margin carries a rich-orange continuous band. The rhinophore clubs are deep red with white speckling on the edges of the lamellae while the stalks are translucent with brown spots. The gill colouration is less intense than the rhinophores being more brownish but also carries the white speckling.

The specific diet of Chromodoris sp. 06 is unknown but it would be a spongivore like the rest of its fellow Chromodoris.

Distribution is reported as Indonesia, PNG and Vanuatu (our specimen pictured here, from Ambon, Indonesia).

It is the Chromodoris sp. 13 of Gosliner et al, 2018. Their Chromodoris sp. 15 (a juvenile) is very similar in external appearance but that species has an orange mantle margin that is discontinuous – that species has since been referred to as Chromodoris aff. mandapamensis in Bonomo & Gosliner, 2020.

David A. Mullins – February 2024

References:
– Gosliner, T. M., Valde ́s, A ́. & Behrens, D. W. (2018). Nudibranch & Sea Slug Identification – Indo-Pacific, 2nd Edition. New World Publications, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

– Bonomo, L. J. & Gosliner, T. M. (2020). Adding stars to the Chromodoris (Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) galaxy with the description of four new species. Zootaxa 4819 (3): 401-435.