Janolus praeclarus
(Bouchet, 1975)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: ARMININA
Family: Zephyrinidae

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from Senegal

PHOTO

Dakar, Senegal. April 1999, On Tacoma wreck at 10m. Photo: Patrice Petit de Voize

The body is translucent orange with parts of the viscera showing through the body wall. The brown digestive gland duct is clearly visible in each ceras. The white-tipped rhinophores are orange, as is the inter-rhinophoral crest. A thin, opaque white line, runs around the anterior half of the mantle just inside the cerata, curving in about halfway down the body to form an incomplete circle. A similar line runs around the posterior half of the mantle but it joins in the midline to run forward as a single line within the anterior circle. The white lines are not always present in their entirety. The cerata have an orange subapical band, and directly below that a creamy white or yellow band, which on the dorsal side of each ceras forms a white streak, which runs some distnace down the ceras. There is a cream yellow broken liine along the dorsal midline of the posterior foot.

Grows to at least 25mm in length. Bouchet (1975) reports finding it on the bryozoan Bugula fulva at 22 metres depth. It is at present known only from Senegal.

Reference:
• Bouchet, P. (1975) Nudibranches nouveaux des cotes du Senegal. Vie et Milieu, 25(1): 119-132.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (May 1) Janolus praeclarus (Bouchet, 1975). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/janoprae

Copyright © Australian Museum, 1998-2010