Risbecia pulchella from the Red Sea

October 30, 2007
From: Larry Dupriest

I recently dug through our massive number of underwater photos from Saudi and came across this one.

Locality: Yanbu, 2-3 feet, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea, Oct 2000, Very clear shallow water. Length: abt 2 inch. Photographer: Larry Dupirest.

Like most of Saudi's Red Sea coastline, this is an area where the coral reef parallels the shore about 100 feet out. The reef's edge is a vertical 50 ft drop of live coral teaming with fish varieties. These nudi's were found in the 2-3 feet shallows about half way out to the reef as we snorkeled the area. We watched this pair for about fifteen minutes as they steadily moved across the bottom. From a total novice:
1) Apparently Chromodoris, what is a proper identification?
2) What are they up to?
Thanks
Larry Dupriest

dgdupriest@nctv.com

Dupriest, L.M., 2007 (Oct 30) Risbecia pulchella from the Red Sea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21027

Dear Larry,

This is Risbecia pulchella which is one of a number of yellow-spotted chromodorids from the Red Sea region. It is not actually a species of Chromodoris but belongs to the same family. Some members of the family, and it seems some other nudibranchs as well, have this curious behaviour of moving along in single-file often the one behind having its head on the foot of the leading animal. This has been called trailing and tail-gating - have a look at the trailing Fact Sheet from more discussion and examples. We have no idea why they do it, although, of course, there are plenty of theories.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Oct 30). Comment on Risbecia pulchella from the Red Sea by Larry Dupriest. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21027

Factsheet

Risbecia pulchella

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