Chromodoris cazae
Gosliner and Behrens, 2004
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Known only from Qatar [Arabian/Persian Gulf] and United Arab Emirates [Gulf of Oman]
PHOTO
Upper: Doha, Qatar. Arabian Gulf. 2nd February 1979, 12 metres, Approx 2.5mm long. Photo: Tony Reavill. Lower: Khawr Fakkan, 12m. Gulf of Oman, United Arab Emirates. Photo: Carole Harris.
The mantle is creamy white with large wine-red or purple rounded patches scattered over the mantle and forming a broken band around the edge. There are usually a number of smaller orange-yellow spots, of variable size, in each purple patch. In the case of the purple patches around the mantle edge, the yellow spots form a submarginal mantle band. Sometimes yellow spots occur on white parts of the mantle but this is rare. The rhinophore pockets have a raised sheath which sometime bears a purple patch with smaller yellow spots. The gills and rhinophores are translucent white with opaque white edging. The photos I have seen of this animal show only the mantle so the colour of the animal and foot is unknown.
Previously known on Forum as Chromodoris sp. 15. See also C. tumulifera and C. kitae.
References:
• Gosliner, T.M. & Behrens, D.W. (2004) Two of New Species of Dorid Nudibranchs (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) from the Indian Ocean. Proceedings of the Californian Academy of Sciences, 55(1): 1-10.
Rudman, W.B., 2004 (July 10) Chromodoris cazae Gosliner and Behrens, 2004. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/chrocaza
Related messages
Chromodoris cazae from Qatar
August 5, 2004
From: Tony Reavill
Hi Bill,
As I promised in my earlier message on Chromodoris cazae, here are some more pics [#12133].
The photos were taken in a place called Doha, Qatar, Persian Gulf while I was employed out there about 20 years ago The bulk of the pictures were taken 2nd February 1979 in 12 metres of water,
Best regards
Tony Reavill
tajreavill@o2.co.uk
Reavill, A., 2004 (Aug 5) Chromodoris cazae from Qatar. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12730Thanks very much Tony,
The colour of your animals seems to be consistently more purple than the red in the photos accompanying the original description of this species. I guess its possible that the difference is a result of some photographic processing mishap. Now that we have a few photos on the Forum, hopefully vistors to the region will keep an eye out for this species and let us know whether it is variable in colour. Thanks also for the photos of C. obsoleta [#12729].
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
A name for Chromodoris sp. 15
July 10, 2004
From: Dave Behrens
Hi Bill
So pleased to see the Forum active again.
Chromodoris sp. 15 is now named. This species is Chromodoris cazae Gosliner and Behrens, 2004, named for Carole Harris who collected the type material in the United Arab Emirates. The name cazae refers to Carole's childhood nickname (Caz), and has a certain Arabic ring to it.
• Gosliner, T.M. & Behrens, D.W. (2004) Two of New Species of Dorid Nudibranchs (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) from the Indian Ocean. Proceedings of the Californian Academy of Sciences, 55(1): 1-10.
dave@seachallengers.com
Behrens, D.W., 2004 (Jul 10) A name for Chromodoris sp. 15. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12679
Thanks Dave,
It's nice to keep up to date. It is intersting to see a bit of the colour variability in this species, with a few of the purple spots having only one yellow spot and a few yellow spots occurring on the white parts of the mantle. I wonder if the difference in purple between Carole Harris's photos and Tony Reavill's [m12133] are an artifact of the photographic process or a real difference. Interestingly the similarly coloured C. tumulifera has the same range of colour difference between purple and wine red.
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
Re: Chromodoris sp. 15
February 10, 2004
From: Tony Reavill
Note added 10 July 2004: This species has been named Chromodoris cazae. [m12679].
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your comments. The picture I took is one of several of this species. The bulk of the pictures were taken 2nd February 1979 in 12 metres of water, very cold dive I remember.
The pictures were taken on a Nikonos 3 with the close up attachment fitted and using an 80mm lens, I used a sunpak 28 flashgun with Kodak Ektachrome 64 asa film.
So the picture is actually 25 years old!
If you require any further info please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Tony Reavill
tajreavill@o2.co.uk
Reavill, T., 2004 (Feb 10) Re: Chromodoris sp. 15. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12155Thanks Tony,
Did you only ever see one animal? If any of your other photos shows it on sponges, or shows another animal with perhaps a variation in the colour pattern, it would be a useful bit of information.
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
Chromodorid from Persian Gulf
February 6, 2004
From: Tony Reavill
Note added 10 July 2004: This species has been named Chromodoris cazae. [m12679].
Hi Bill,
I made contact with you over a year ago with regards to this nudibranch but at that stage was unable to attach the picture. Luckily I have overcome that problem now. I took this picture in the Persian Gulf while I was employed out there about 20 years ago in a place called Doha, Qatar. The animal was just over an inch long.
Hope you can identify it for me.
Many thanks in anticipation.
Tony Reavill
tajreavill@o2.co.uk
Reavill, T., 2004 (Feb 6) Chromodorid from Persian Gulf. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12133Dear Tony,
I am pretty sure it is a species of Chromodoris but I don't think I have ever seen this colour pattern before. I suspect it is an unnamed species so I will call it Chromodoris sp. 15 at present.
If you have more precise locality and date information it would be useful to include it as a record
Best wishes
Bill Rudman
