Tambja simplex
Ortea & Moro, 1998

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Polyceridae
Subfamily: Nembrothinae

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from the Cape Verde Archipelago, eastern Atlantic.

PHOTO

Tarrafal, Ilha do Sao Tiago, Cape Verde Islands. Dec 1998. Collected and photographed by Peter Wirtz. [see Cervera, García-Gómez, & Cattaneo-Vietti, 2000]

The background colour of the body is purplish black with bright yellow border around the mantle edge which joins behind the gills and runs as a single median line to the posterior tip of the foot.  There is a broken yellow line down the dorsal midline, usually consisting of a section between the rhinophores and another joining the anterior edge of the gill pocket. There is also a yellow border to the foot, and a broken yellow line along each side of the body. The rhinophore pockets are edged in yellow and the blackish gills have a yellow line, often incomplete, running along bothe the inner and outer rachis. The upper edge of the oral tentacles also has yellow. The radula is typical of the genus. It grows to at least 60 mm in length.

  • Cervera, J. L., García-Gómez, J. C., and Cattaneo-Vietti, R. (2000) Additional Data on the phanerobranch dorid Tambja simplex Ortea & Moro, 1998 (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia: Polyceratidae). The Veliger,23: 190-194.
  • Ortea, J. A. and Moro, L. (1999) Descripcion de tres Moluscos Opistobranquios nuevos de las islas de Cabo Verde. Avicennia, 8/9: 149-154.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2005 (August 24) Tambja simplex Ortea & Moro, 1998. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/tambsimp