Flapping Chromodoris geminus from Pemba Islands

March 2, 2006
From: Pasquale Pascullo


Is this Chromodoris geminus? I have some great people helping me id some subjects, but seeing other pictures confuses me when researching - some are so close to it (C. kuniei?)
What is the behavior showing us with the flapping?

Locality: Pemba Islands , +/- 11meters, EastCoast Tanzania, west Indian Ocean, Feb 08 '06, rough rocky reef. Length: 2inches. Photographer: Pasquale Pascullo.

Thanks again for your time and work here Bill.

Pasquale Pascullo
www.ppfotos.com

pp@ppfotos.com

Pascullo, P., 2006 (Mar 2) Flapping Chromodoris geminus from Pemba Islands. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15993

Dear Pat,
Thanks for these photos showing the mantle flapping behaviour of this species. This is one of the most spectacular of a group which flap their mantle as they crawl along. They have glands around the mantle edge which store distasteful chemicals they store from their sponge food. It is possible that flapping the mantle edge like this draws possible fish predators to the most distasteful parts of their body. Once the fish have had a few nibbles perhaps they learn to give not only the colour pattern but also animals with a flapping mantle a wide berth in the future. I must say this is only a hypothesis. We still have much to learn about them.

C. geminus and C. kuniei are very similar in colour. I called this species C. geminus [geminus = twin] precisely because they look so alike.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Mar 2). Comment on Flapping Chromodoris geminus from Pemba Islands by Pasquale Pascullo. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15993

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