Chromodoris trimarginata
(Winckworth, 1946)
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Described from Bombay (Mumbai), NW India. Reported here from Malaysia.
PHOTO
UPPER RIGHT: Kuantan shipwreck, Malaysia 1988. [collected with C. sinensis] Photo: Ho Soon Lin.
LOWER: Bombay, India. Photo: S.R. Sane.
The body and mantle are translucent white with opaque white mottling all over the central part of the mantle. The mantle is edges with a white outer band, then a deep red band and a orange-yellow inner band. All three bands are of equal width. The ramifying mantle glands appear as an irregular broad white band on the inside edge of the yellow. Scattered all over the mantle are small irregularly shaped and sized patches of translucent red. The gills and rhinophore clubs are translucent white with opaque white edging.
Originally described from a collection of 80 specimens from Bombay, the anatomy was redescribed by Rudman (1985) and Angel Valdes et al (1999) published a colour photo from southern India allowing a clarification of its relationship to similarly coloured species. The photos on this page are previously unpublished records from Bombay and Malaysia, suggesting that this species has a wide distribution in the northern Indian Ocean.
This is one of a number of similarly coloured species which I have called the Chromodoris verrieri - colour group. [I am presently preparing a page comparing these species].
References:
• Rudman, W.B. (1985) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Chromodoris aureomarginata, C. verrieri and C. fidelis colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 83: 241-299.
• Valdes, A., Mollo, E. & Ortea, J. (1999) Two new species of Chromodoris (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) from southern India, with a redescription of Chromodoris trimarginata (Winckworth, 1946). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 51(13): 461-472.
Rudman, W.B., 2000 (July 4) Chromodoris trimarginata (Winckworth, 1946). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chrotrim
