Thanks Charles,
It certainly seems to be interested in this orange sponge but a bit hard to be sure. The little purple and orange amphipods are quite spectacular. I'm interested in the habits of all opisthobranchs, but the reason I was particularly interested in the feeding habits of this species was that C. heatherae appears to have a rather distinct colour form which lacks a yellow border. Without comparing the anatomy of animals with and without this border I thought it might be useful to see if there were consistent behavioural differences between yellow-bordered and borderless animals. Perhaps the different colour forms ate different sponges? If so, this might suggest we had two different but very similarly coloured species like the many red-spotted species in southeastern Australia
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Thanks Charles,
We still have a lot to learn about these animals worldwide so to some extent the Forum is a 'selfhelp' institution. Amateur naturalists have always been an invaluable help to professional scientists, who are very few in number. I agree that your animal appears to differ from 'typical' C. heatherae in some aspects of the colour pattern, but as we know little about that species, it's a bit hard to be sure how much colour variation it has. Perhaps you would be willing to help by keeping an eye out for red-spotted chromodorids. If your were able to photograph where they live - preferably what sponges they are frequenting - and catch them laying eggs, it would help us determine how many red-spotted species occur in your part of the world. Most species are very particular as to which species of sponge they will eat, and often the egg ribbons of diiferent species will be quite different, so even before looking at their anatomy we can often get some good clues to what is and what isn't a different species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Charles,
I am pretty sure this is Chromodoris heatherae, but in that species, as you will see for the photos already on the Forum, there is usually a submarginal yellow line around the mantle. There appears to be a hint of that yellow line in the close-up alongside but I can't be sure. Perhaps you could check your photos to see if you can see one.

Why I am not sure is that in southeastern Australia there is a group of very similarly coloured red-spotted species [see Red-spotted Chromodorids Page] and so its possible subtle difference in colour pattern may mean there are more than one red-spotted species in South Africa as well.

Also of interest is the pink sponge your animal is on. If I found that in southeastern Australia I would think it was the common pink Darwinella species, which many of the red-spotted species feed on. Your photo is an interesting addition. It would be useful to have some indication of size if you can.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Valda,
Yes this species is now called Chromodoris heatherae Gosliner, 1994.

In the original description Gosliner says that only some specimens have the submarginal yellow line and some lack both the yellow line and red spots.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.