Dendrodoris fumata? from Western Australia

August 11, 2007
From: Bruce Potter

Dear Bill,
I recently photographed the acompanying two Dendrodoris fumata under a jetty near Rockingham in Western Australia. Nearby I found the third slug which puzzled me. I then found out that D. fumata comes in a variety of colours. This orange one was the same size as the pair of black ones, but is is possible that it is a colour form of D. fumata?
All three slugs were about 40 mm long and found at 6 to 7 meters depth.

Locality: Rockingham, 7 meters, Western Australia, Indian Ocean, 05 April 2007, silty, under a jetty. Length: 40 mm. Photographer: Bruce Potter.

Regards
Bruce Potter

bandppotter@bigpond.com

Potter, B., 2007 (Aug 11) Dendrodoris fumata? from Western Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20153

Dear Bruce,
Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the Malacological Congress in Perth (July 2004) so its only recently that I have had a chance to see the contributions which have now been published. One of these, by Brodie & Calado, (2006) propose that this black form of Dendrodoris should be considered a separate species Dendrodoris arborescens (Collingwood, 1881). I haven't had a chance to read the paper fully but I suspect I will have to go through the D. fumata messages in the near future and sort them out.

Concerning your bright orange animal, it is a bit hard to be sure, but it could be either D. fumata or D. nigra. It really depends on the gills. if you have another photo showing them more clearly it would be helpful. If it is D. nigra there should be many quite small gills, while if it is D. fumata there should be five or size large bushy gills.

  • Brodie, G.D. & Calado, G. 2006. Dendrodoris arborescens (Collingwood, 1881) (Mollusca: Nudirbanchia): larval charcterstics reveal a masked porostome species. Records of the Western Australian Museum Suppl. 69: 119-126.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 11). Comment on Dendrodoris fumata? from Western Australia by Bruce Potter. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20153

Factsheet

Dendrodoris fumata

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