Chromodoris britoi from the Azores islands

Dear David,

It's good to get more records of this species. As you will see in an earlier message [#3157] there is some doubt about just how many species there are with this colour pattern in the Atlantic. Gosliner has suggested C. britoi and C. clenchi from the Caribbean are the same while Angel Valdes feels that C. britoi is the same as the Caribbean C. binza. Whatever turns out to be the correct answer, the presence of C. britoi in the Azores suggests a link to a Caribbean species would not be that surprising.

I have checked with a recent checklist of Spanish species (Cervera et al, 2006) and they have a number of records of this species from the Azores, and also from other Atlantic islands closer to the Afro-European coast.

• Cervera, J. L., Calado, G., Gavaia, C., Malaquias, M. A. E., Templado, J., Ballesteros, M., García-Gómez, J. C., & Megina, C. (2006) An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Espanol de Oceanografía  20: 1-122.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman