Chromodoris naiki
Valdés, Mollo & Ortea, 1999

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae

PHOTO

Mandapam, Tamil Nadu, India, May 1998. Length of preserved animal 13mm. Photo: Ernesto Mollo.

RELATED TOPIC

C. naiki anatomy

Chromodoris naiki is pale gray-brown species, with a pale blue band at the edge of the notum. Along the margin and in the central part of the dorsum, there are scattered large spots of dark purple. Immediately inside the area of outer purple spots there is an area of reflective yellow or orange-yellow mantle glands. There are also yellow or orange-yellow mantle glands, associated with the dark purple spots in the center of the dorsum. Numerous, small opaque white spots are scattered all over the central part of the dorsum. The rhinophore clubs and gill are gray-brown. The bases of the rhinophores are translucent gray. There are numerous small opaque white spots arranged in distinct rows along the edges of the rhinophoral lamellae and gill pinnae. The gill consists of six unipinnate branchial leaves. The perfoliate rhinophores are composed of 20 lamellae.

The species is named after Dr. Chandrakant G. Naik, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India, for his support to Ernesto Mollo during his field work in the area.

Chromodoris naiki is externally very similar to Chromodoris kitae Gosliner, 1994, described from Madagascar. However, there are several external and internal differences that clearly separate both species. In C. kitae the yellow glands are only present in the mantle margin (see Gosliner, 1994), whereas in C. naiki they are also in the center of the dorsum, associated with the purple spots. In addition, C. naiki has a number of small white spots in the center of the dorsum that are absent in C. kitae. The number of branchial leaves is also different between both species, C. kitae has eight whereas C. naiki has six. So far, C. naiki is only known from Mandapam, southern India.

References:
• Gosliner, T.M. (1994) New species of Chromodoris and Noumea (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) from the western Indian Ocean and southern Africa. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 48: 239-252.
• Valdés, A., Mollo, E. & Ortea, J. (1999) Two new species of Chromodoris (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) from Southern India, with a redescription of Chromodoris trimarginata (Winckworth, 1946). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 51: 461-472.

Authorship details
Valdes, A., 2000 (July 23) Chromodoris naiki Valdés, Mollo & Ortea, 1999. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chronaik

Copyright © Australian Museum, 1998-2010