Chromodoris preciosa from Malapascua, The Philippines

February 1, 2005
From: Paul Osmond


Bill,
Congrats on getting the forum moving again - hopefully you have the Museum's support now and it is not all your own personal time.

Anyway, onto the nudibranchs.

Found this single specimen of what I believe is  Chromodoris trimarginata on a shallow dive just off the coast of Malapascua Island in Cebu, The Philippines. It was about 50mm long and the whole area is about 25 feet deep in basically a sandy ocean floor area.

Locality:  Exotic Resort Shore Dive, Malapascua, Malapascua Island, The Philippines. Depth: 25 ft. Length: 50 mm. 3 December 2004. Shallow ocean floor, man made wreckage. Photographer: Paul Osmond

It was on a bunch of man-made wreckage that was placed in the area to form a shore dive - most of it being old cars, building frames, etc.

Yours,
Paul

marriard@deepseaimages.com

Osmond, P.T., 2005 (Feb 1) Chromodoris preciosa from Malapascua, The Philippines. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12849

Dear Paul,
This certainly is within the C. trimarginata group of species, but I think it is best identified as Chromodoris preciosa. I suspect when know more about this group of species we may consider some of them to be variations of one species. When these species were described, the descriptions were based on one or two specimens from a single locality. Usually the colour information was based on a colour painting, or even a rough sketch with colour notes, so the subtleties we now know are important were never considered.

Another interesting feature of your photos [see close-up alomgside] is the purple sponge which I am pretty sure is the food of this species.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Feb 1). Comment on Chromodoris preciosa from Malapascua, The Philippines by Paul Osmond. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12849

Factsheet

Chromodoris preciosa

Related messages

  1. Chromodoris preciosa from Indonrsia
    From: Erwin Kodiat, December 20, 2006
  2. Chromodoris preciosa from Indonesia
    From: Carl Scott, June 10, 2005
  3. Chromodoris preciosa from the Philippines
    From: Erwin Koehler, August 22, 2003
  4. Chromodoris preciosa from Papua New Guinea
    From: Marli Wakeling, September 30, 2001
  5. Chromodoris preciosa from Tonga
    From: Don Barclay, May 3, 2001
  6. Chromodoris preciosa from Solomon Ids
    From: Bruce Potter, January 2, 2001
  7. Chromodoris daphne? from Papua New Guinea
    From: Mary Jane Adams, September 4, 2000
  8. Chromodoris preciosa from Vanuatu
    From: Vinka Stenhouse, July 5, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages