Chromodoris fidelis
(Kelaart, 1858)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Tropical Indo-West Pacific.

PHOTO

UPPER: Heron Is, Qld, PHOTO: Julie Booth.
LOWER LEFT: Suakin, Sudan, Red Sea, April 1980. PHOTO: C. Todd
LOWER RIGHT: Koumac, New Caledonia, October 1993. PHOTO: Bill Rudman.

The mantle is creamy white with a broad orange band around the mantle edge and a thin wine red line between the white and the orange. On the inner edge of the orange band there are usually a series of tongue-like patches running into the white region. In some cases they are almost all wine red while in others there is only a slight thickening of the red band. Grows to 20-25mm long. Three common variations are illustrated here and all seem present throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Equally characteristic are the black rhinophores and gills and the white foot. In northern New South Wales there is, what I consider to be a unique colour form of this species.

Reference:
• Rudman, W.B. (1985) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Chromodoris aureomarginata, C. verrieri and C. fidelis colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 83: 241-299.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (June 1) Chromodoris fidelis (Kelaart, 1858). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chrofide

Related messages

  1. Chromodoris fidelis from Sri Lanka
    From: Anouk Houben, December 10, 2007
  2. Chromodoris fidelis from Thailand
    From: Paul Osmond, March 24, 2007
  3. A colour variant of Chromodoris fidelis ?
    From: Takao Urasawa, August 3, 2006
  4. Chromodoris fidelis from the northern Marianas Ids
    From: Takao Urasawa, November 12, 2005
  5. Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia
    From: Bob Widman, September 23, 2005
  6. Chromodoris fidelis from Burma
    From: Sergey Parinov, July 6, 2005
  7. Feeding Chromodoris fidelis from Burma
    From: Sergey Parinov, July 6, 2005
  8. Chromodoris fidelis from Nth Borneo
    From: Glenn Robert, March 18, 2004
  9. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [1]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  10. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [4]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  11. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [2]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  12. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [3]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  13. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [5]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  14. Chromodoris fidelis feeding [6]
    From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004
  15. Chromodoris fidelis from Thailand
    From: Danny Van Belle, February 14, 2004
  16. Chromodoris fidelis - feeding
    From: Kheong San Chan, April 10, 2003
  17. Chromodoris fidelis from Sulawesi
    From: Mary Jane Adams, May 8, 2002
  18. Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia
    From: Alice Lee, March 28, 2002
  19. Chromodoris fidelis from Bali
    From: Stuart Hutchison, March 11, 2002
  20. Chromodoris fidelis from Hong Kong
    From: Bill Rudman & Brian Darvell, January 28, 2002
  21. Re: Chromodoris fidelis from Tufi, Papua New Guinea
    From: Des Paroz, October 15, 2001
  22. Chromodoris fidelis from Tufi, Papua New Guinea
    From: Des Paroz, October 14, 2001
  23. Chromodoris fidelis from Papua New Guinea
    From: Marli Wakeling, October 4, 2001
  24. Another variant of Chromodoris fidelis
    From: Stuart Hutchison, August 16, 2000
  25. Chromodoris fidelis from Papua New Guinea
    From: Stuart Hutchison, August 13, 2000
  26. Chromodoris fidelis from South Africa
    From: Valda Fraser, April 2, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages