Trapania cirrita
Gosliner & Fahey, 2008
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Goniodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Known from temperate Indian Ocean coast of South Africa.
PHOTO
Upper: A 35574, South Africa, 7 mm. Photo: T. Gosliner. Lower: CASIZ 172881. Radular morphology. Scale =10 µm. [From Gosliner & Fahey 2008: Fig. 14B].
The body is a translucent brown with irregular longitudinal lines of opaque white. From the available photos the oral tentacles, rhinophores and lateral body processes are translucent brown with yellow-orange tips and a subterminal whitish band, but this band is not always very clear. There is also a yellow-orange tip to the posterior end of the body/foot. The gills are a mottled translucent brown.
If it were not for the brown background colour this species would be difficult to distinguish from the northeastern Atlantic T. lineata. Both T. cirrata and T. lineata have similar radular teeth with a large external cusp and a series of small inner denticles of approximately equal length. Gosliner & Fahey mention T. sanctipetrensis as also having similar shaped teeth, and we can also add T. tartanella [see #20698] and the Indo-West Pacific species T. reticulata [#21434], and T. darvelli [#21435].
These species is reported to grow to 7 mm in length.
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Gosliner, T.M. & Fahey, S.H. (2008) Systematics of Trapania (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of 16 new species Systematics and Biodiversity, 6 (1): 53-98
Rudman, W.B., 2008 (March 10) Trapania cirrita Gosliner & Fahey, 2008. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/trapcirr
