Colour phases of Dirona albolineata

April 28, 2006
From: Jan Kocian


Hi Bill,
Enclosed photos of Dirona albolineata. I found about fifteen of them in an area of about seventy feet. I just finished checking zincs on boat's shaft and decided to see what lives on the muddy bottom below. I was surprised to find the white slugs cruising all over the fine muck, the only nice thing down there. Almost all of them were pure white, while the one I found on piling has cerata with yellowish tint . It seem to match the colour of the growth on the piling. I wonder how long the colouration lasts, do they revert to white again? The two slugs together seem to be in different stages of "yellowing" .

Locality: Whidbey Island, Puget Sound, WAshington, USA. NE Pacific Ocean. Depth: 15 feet. Length: 40 mm. 08 November 2005. muddy bottom. Photographer: Jan Kocian

Jan Kocian

honkoc@hotmail.com

Kocian, J., 2006 (Apr 28) Colour phases of Dirona albolineata. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15225

Hi Jan,

Thanks Jan.  Yes you have captured examples of the sort of variability seen in many species of nudibranchs.  Variation as seen here is often due to what and how much the individual has just eaten.  Obviously your two animals here have either fed on different bryozoan species or the white one hasn't fed in awhile.

Dirona albolineata has been documented with even great color shifts.  For those of you who still have a copy of the First Edition of Pacific Coast Nudibranchs kicking around, you will note on page 83, that Gordon Robilliard observed a dramatic purple specimen up in Puget Sound.  Hard to explain that coloration.

Looks like the critter in the lower photo might belong on Bill's anomaly page, as it appears to have three rhinophores.

Best wishes,
Dave Behrens

Behrens, D.W., 2006 (Apr 28). Comment on Colour phases of Dirona albolineata by Jan Kocian. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15225

Factsheet

Dirona albolineata

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