Re: Melanistic Chromodoris hamiltoni

November 30, 2006
From: Colin Ogden

Concerning message #15570:

Hi Bill,
One of our customers managed to get this picture of another "melanistic" nudibranch next to a "friend". They both seem to be feeding on the same sponge together, but this one shows a much more distiguishable blue stripe on its foot comparde to the previous nudi.The second picture is the original one I found. I battle to tell the difference between a C. hamiltoni and a C. quadricolor. Which one is this?

Locality: Sodwana Bay, 22 meters, South Africa, Indian, 25 november 2006, reef. Length: 40mm. Photographer: Trevor Hodgson.

Thanks for all your help so far.
regards

Colin

scubaco@iafrica.com

Ogden M., 2006 (Nov 30) Re: Melanistic Chromodoris hamiltoni. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18677

Noted added 11 January 2007: This is most probably Hypselodoris regina. See message #19207.

Dear Colin,
It is a bit difficult to identify some of these species externally. C. hamiltoni is usually more compact with a narrower mantle skirt than C. quadricolor and it often has the secondary then black lines on the mantle which are often replaced by wider orange or brownish lines. Interestingly, C. quadricolor seems to feed exclusively on the bright red sponge Negombata, while your animals here are feeding on a species of Dysidea.

I am confident that both these animals are C. hamiltoni, and both appear to be feeding on the same colony of sponge, the melanistic one actually has its buccal bulb everted. This is a nice find..

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Nov 30). Comment on Re: Melanistic Chromodoris hamiltoni by Colin Ogden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18677

Factsheet

Hypselodoris regina

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