Discodoris mauritiana?
(Bergh, 1889)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Discodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Tropical Indo-West Pacific

PHOTO

Silhouette Is, Intertidal, Seychelles, Indian Ocean, August 2007, Rock and sand. Length: ~3 cm. Photographer: Richard Barnes.

This dorid appear to be widespread in the Indo-West Pacific but there is still considerable confusion over its identity. Malcolm Edmunds (1971) identified it as Peltodoris mauritiana Bergh, 1889 but he wasn't sure his specimens were all the same or very confident that many of the species named by Bergh and others as Discodoris and Peltodoris were identifiable today. So my identification of this as Discodoris mauritiana is mainly because I have always called it that, rather than from any deep understanding of this groups of greyish, mottled 'flat dorids'.

The mantle is a translucent greyish white with light purplish grey patches often with a darker spot in each patch.

They are a group which need work.

• Bergh, L. S. R. (1889) Malacologische Untersuchungen. Nudibranchien vom Meere der Insel Mauritius. In: C.G. Semper, Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen, Wissenschaftliche Resultate. Band 2, Heft 16b.: 815-872,Pls.82-84.
• Edmunds, M (1971): Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Tanzania (suborder Doridacea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 50(4), 339-396. (Pl.1)

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