Chromodoris boucheti from Tanzania

June 28, 2001
From: Bernard Picton

Hi Bill,
Here are some pictures of Chromodoris boucheti from Pemba Island, Tanzania, taken in February 1999. This was quite a common species in the area - indeed
it was interesting to see that the quadricolor type Chromodorids I was
familiar with from Indonesia (C. lochi, C. annae, C. magnifica, C. dianae, etc.) were replaced by C. boucheti and C. hamiltoni in Pemba Island.

The colouring of C. boucheti was very consistent - the black horseshoe line
around the gills which extends forwards as two tapering lines between the continuous black lines and the black lines on the lower parts of the gills were very diagnostic. One animal has an extra line of black spots around the mantle margin similar to Valda Fraser's animal; these are rather reminiscent
of the orange markings in larger C. dianae.

I enclose pictures which seem to show the animals feeding on a grey sand-encrusted sponge with hydroids growing out of it, in the second picture there is also a pale blue sponge, but I think this may be overgrowing the one which the Chromodoris is actually eating.

Bernard

bernard.picton.um@nics.gov.uk

Picton, B. , 2001 (Jun 28) Chromodoris boucheti from Tanzania. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4682

Thanks Bernard,
It's nice to get further information on what parts of these colour patterns are consistent and which parts are variable. It's also interesting to hear about the sand encrusted sponge food (upper right, lower right photos).

Hypselodoris bennetti feeds on a sand-encrusted sponge like this. For a long time we didn't know what it ate - it was never seen near a 'real' sponge, until someone realised the 'substrate' was in fact a sponge, covered in algae, hydroids etc, but still a sponge.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Jun 28). Comment on Chromodoris boucheti from Tanzania by Bernard Picton . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4682

Factsheet

Chromodoris boucheti

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