Glossodoris rufomarginata

Glossodoris rufomarginata
Glossodoris rufomarginata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia

Superfamily: Doridoidea
Family: Chromodorididae
Genus: Glossodoris
Species: G. rufomarginata
Binomial name
Glossodoris rufomarginata
(Bergh, 1890)

Glossodoris rufomarginata, commonly called white-margin sea slug or caramel nudibranch,[1] is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.

Description

Glossodoris rufomarginata has a commonly observed length of 3.5 cm, with a maximum length of 5 cm.[1][2] The background coloration of the entire body is whitish with on the foot and the dorsal surface speckled with a dense coat of tiny red dots to orange-brown that gives the impression at first glance that the animal is brown. The edge of the mantle is well developed and wavy with a broad white band with a red to orange-brown outer border. The foot has also a white external margin. The rhinophores and branchial plume are retractable[1] with a red to orange-brown coloration with a white median line on rhinophores and a white highlight on the gills axes.

Distribution & habitat

This species occurs in the tropical waters of Indo-Pacific area. It has been observed in localities as far distant from one another as Tanzania in Africa, Mayotte, but it occurs mainly from Sri Lanka to Polynesia and Hawaii.,[2][3] This nudibranch can be observed mostly on reef and rocky areas in sheltered as in exposed environment but with a preference for area in the shade.[3]

Glossodoris rufromarginata

Biology

Glossodoris rufomarginata has a daytime activity[3] and can be easily met on or in close proximity to its favorite food source which are some black sponges of the family Thorectidae,[1][4]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.