Chromodoris neona
(Marcus, 1955)
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Southern Brazil. (Caribbean records probably misidentifications)
PHOTO
São Paulo, Brazil. Photo: Guido Villani
Known from very few records it was described from 2 15-16mm long animals. The ground colour was described as "bright light blue, nearly flourescent" and the rhinophores, gills and pointed posterior tip of the foot are red violet. There is a 'bright 'eosin' red border to the mantle, and there are irregular lines and spots of the same colour on the mantle. There is a red median line down the posterior part of the foot. Marcus describes 6 darker blue areas on each side of the mantle which he identifies as gland cells. The bright bluish tinge that so impressed Marcus is probably an indication that his specimens were juvenile. If we discount the 'bright blue' the animal in Guido Villani's photo is clearly Marcus's C. neona.
"Both C. clenchi and C. binza have in common an hourglass yellow pattern on the dorsum, which is absent in C. neona. However, C. clenchi has well-defined, rounded and violet dorsal spots, surrounded by thin red lines, whereas C. binza has a much more irregular pattern with a red network of lines surrounding irregular pale blue areas". [From Angel Valdes's message distinguishing these three species].
See Angel Valdes' other message discussing this species and the similarly coloured C. binza, C. clenchi and C. britoi.
Reference:
• Marcus, Er. (1955) Opisthobranchia from Brazil. Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras. Universidade de Sao Paulo, Zoologia, 20: 89-261. (Pls. 1-30)
• Ortea, J., Valdés, A. & Espinosa, J. (1994) North Atlantic nudibranchs of the Chromodoris clenchi colour group (Opisthobranchia: Chromododorididae). Journal of Molluscan Studies, 60: 237-248.
Rudman, W.B., 2000 (October 10) Chromodoris neona (Marcus, 1955). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chroneon
