Chromodoris elisabethina
| Chromodoris elisabethina | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chromodoris elisabethina | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia |
| Superfamily: | Doridoidea |
| Family: | Chromodorididae |
| Genus: | Chromodoris |
| Species: | C. elisabthina |
| Binomial name | |
| Chromodoris elisabethina (Berg, 1877) | |
Chromodoris elisabethina is a species of very colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.
Distribution
This species of nudibranch is found in the central area of the Indo-Pacific region from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to the south part of Japan.[1][2]
Description
Chromodoris elisabethina can reach a maximum size of 5 cm length.[3] The body is elongate with a foot which is distinct from the upper body by a skirt like mantle hiding partially the foot. The branched gills and the rhinophores are orange to yellow and can be withdraw in specific pockets under the skin in case of danger.[4]
The main background colour is bluish, the intensity of the latter varying from blue-grey to intense blue. The blue dorsal side has a median black discontinuous line and can also have many finer parallel lines depending on the specimen. Those longitudinal lines are also present on the foot. The longitudinal discontinuous lines are distinctive of this species and allow the observer to differentiate it from other close species like Chromodoris lochi, Chromodoris willani and Chromodoris boucheti.
The mantle edge and the foot are bordered with white and orange to yellow lines in which the width and the color intensity can vary greatly from a specimen to another. The blue color of the nody and the external margin is outlined by a discontinuous black line.
References
- Debelius, Helmut, 2001, Nudibranchs and Sea Snails: Indo-Pacific Field Guide, IKAN - Unterwasserarchiv, Frankfurt, Germany.
- P.L.Beesley,G.J.B. Ross,A.Wells,Mollusca-The southern synthesis, vol.5, CSIRO, 1998,ISBN 0-643-05756-0
- David Behrens, Nudibranch behaviour, Newworld Publication INC., 2005, ISBN 978-1878348418
- Gary Cobb & Richard Willan, Undersea jewels- a colour guide to nudibranchs, Australian Biological Resources Study, 2006, ISBN 0642568472
External links
- http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=527354
- http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/chroelis
- http://rfbolland.com/okislugs/chroelis.html