Okenia liklik
Gosliner, 2004

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Goniodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

This species has been found from Papua New Guinea and Luzon Island in the Philippines.

PHOTO

Upper: Barracuda Point, Madang, Papua New Guinea. Photo: T.M. Gosliner. Lower: SEM of radula showing larger inner laterals and smaller outer laterals (CASIS168023). Scale bar = 3 µm. [Photos from Gosliner, 2004 with permission].

The body is elongate, relatively high and has a well developed, continuous mantle edge with 8 -9 lateral papillae on each side. notal border. The two anterior-most papillae on each side are situated in front of the rhinophores and are anteriorly directed. All the lateral papillae taper to a rounded point and are about half the width of the mantle. There are no dorsal mantle papillae but there is a rounded crest in the dorsal midline running from just in front of the gills to a point midway between the gills and the rhinophores. There are three simple unipinnate gills. The rhinophores are relatively large, about twice the length of the lateral papillae, and have 17-18 lamellae.

The animal is a uniform translucent purplish pink. There is a band of alternating opaque white and  brown patches down the dorsal midline of the mantle. Anteriorly there is a white patch running from just in front of the rhinophores back to the start of the median rounded crest. There is then a short brown patch and then a white patch running back to the gills. The crest is pinkish purple and divides the white and brown patches into two bands. Beneath the gills is another brown patch and then behind the gills is another opaque white patch. The gills is uniformly opaque white. The lateral papillae are pinkish purple with a subapical orange band and usually a brown tip. In the photos available the most posterior papillae seem to lack any ortange pigmentation. The rhinophores are pinkish purple with some white and orange patching near the tip. The living animals are small, 3-4 mm in length.

• Gosliner, T. M. (2004) Phylogenetic Systematics of Okenia, Sakishimaia, Hopkinsiella and Hopkinsia (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of new species from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 55: 125-161.

Copyright © Australian Museum, 1998-2010