Dendrodoris herytra
Valdés & Ortea, 1996
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Dendrodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
appears to be absent from the Mediterranean Sea, but it is the most widespread species in the Northeastern Atlantic. It lives from the coast of France to Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores.
PHOTO
Angel Valdes.
"Dendrodoris herytra Valdés & Ortea, 1996 appears to be absent from the Mediterranean Sea, but it is the most widespread species in the Northeastern Atlantic. It lives from the coast of France to Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores. It is characterized by having a very small gill, and in general it is a red or reddish species. Some specimens can be greenish with dark spots, but the branchial leaves are always very short."
Juveniles of all Atlantic species of Dendrodoris, except D. limbata are uniformly red. I suspect specimens keep changing colors during their whole life, depending on what they eat. However, it is common to find under the same rock specimens of the same species with very different colorations. .... Angel Valdes.
Compare with other two species from the northeastern Atlantic: Dendrodoris grandiflora and Dendrodoris limbata. See Angel Valdes' comparison of the three species.
Reference:
• Valdes, A., Ortea, J., Avila, C. & Ballesteros, M. (1996) Review of the genus Dendrodoris Ehrenberg, 1831 (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) in the Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Molluscan Studies 62: 1-31.
Valdes, A., 2000 (May 27) Dendrodoris herytra Valdés & Ortea, 1996 . [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/dendhery
