Chromodoris africana and 'look alikes'

January 27, 2000
From: Valda Fraser

Dear Bill
These black and white nudibranchs are confusing me. There are 3 kinds that I see often. The first image is Chromodoris africana, or so I think. The second is Chromodoris cf. africana. The third one is a problem. What is it .. a half and half?

South Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
UPPER RIGHT: Hibberdene, April 1999, 45mm
LOWER LEFT: Hibberdene, June 1999. 50mm
LOWER RIGHT: Umkomaas, Jan 2000, 45mm

Regards
Valda Fraser

iti04937@mweb.co.za

Fraser, V., 2000 (Jan 27) Chromodoris africana and 'look alikes'. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1791

Dear Valda,
I'm afraid the chromodorids confuse most of us. No sooner do you think you have them sorted out than another colour pattern pops up! My comments on your three animals are:

UPPER RIGHT: Chromodoris africana.

LOWER LEFT: I'll put it with the Chromodoris cf. africana group but I think it may be different. It also has similarities in colour to C. striatella and C. lineolata.

LOWER RIGHT: C. strigata.

I have copied relevant parts of your message to the other relevant pages and added some comments. In general, if these species are relatively common it would be great to get some photos of them on their food sponges and of their egg ribbons to see how they differ. I realise determining which sponges are being eaten is not always easy, but if you inevitably find a species on or at the edge of the same sponge species its probably a pretty good indication. Similarly with identifying who laid an egg mass - the only sure way in the field is to catch them being laid.

Thanks for the great photos and interesting animals.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Jan 27). Comment on Chromodoris africana and 'look alikes' by Valda Fraser. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1791

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