Unidentified dorid from the Galapagos Ids
October 9, 2007
From: Fontaine Denton
My wife and I found this nudibranch in the southern Galapagos at about 65 feet on the wall under an overhang, it was in August. We can not find the species in the Galapagos ID book or our sea slug ID book for the indo pacific. Can you please identify it for us??
Locality: Southern Galapagos, 65-70 feet, Ecuador, Pacific, August 2007, Wall overhang. Length: 2.5-3 inches. Photographer: Fontaine and Maxine Denton.
Fontaine Denton
fontainedenton@yahoo.com
Denton, F., 2007 (Oct 9) Unidentified dorid from the Galapagos Ids. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20905
Dear Fontaine,
This is the third report of this strangely beautiful dorid nudibranch from the Galapagos Ids [see message #20277]. I have checked with colleagues worldwide and the consensus is that this is an unnamed species, but as to a genus or family, I think we need to wait until someone collects some specimens and some expert is able to study its anatomy. The damage to the whitish sponge in your photos suggests it is a sponge-feeding species, feeding on this white sponge. However in the upper photo it looks like there is an orange sponge as well, and in the lower photos there seems to be an orange egg ribbon.
I can't really say much more. It is strange that such a brightly coloured species has not been recorded until the first record on the Forum [#10643 ] in 2003, where it was on the same whitish sponge.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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