Aphelodoris karpa
Wilson, 2003

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

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from Shark Bay, Western Australia to Gove Peninsula, Nthn Territory, Australia.

PHOTO

Enderby Island, Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. Photo: C. Bryce. Paratype. AM C204865.

The body is soft and fleshy with a broad mantle skirt. The mantle is brown to dark brown, sometimes with darker brown patches near the edge of the mantle. There are scattered rounded tubercles over the mantle, usually with two large ones in the midline just in front of the gills. The tips of the tubercles are a translucent whitish colour, usually with a bright orange tip. The mantle edge has a thin translucent white border, and sometimes there is a broad translucent orange submarginal band. The raised rhinophoral pockets are translucent white with an orange border, and the gill pocket is similarly coloured. The five tripinnate gills are brown and white, often tipped with cream or orange, but the gill colour is extremely variable between animals. The rhinophore club is dark brown with a white line up the anterior and poetrior midlines, while the translucent stalk has brown pigmentation on the posterior side. The foot is translucent white with some brown patching, and the edge of the foot can have an orange line, which if present, can be entire or broken.
It is reported to be able to swim by a dorso-ventral flexion of the whole body and grows to at least 10 cm in length.
  • Wilson, N. G. (2003). Australian Aphelodoris (Mollusca: Nudibranchia): two new species, sperm ultrastructure and a redescription of Aphelodoris greeni Burn. In: F. E. Wells and D. I. Walker (eds), The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth. Volume 2: 563-587
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2006 (February 7) Aphelodoris karpa Wilson, 2003. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aphekarp

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