Chromodoris magnifica or C. annae

August 16, 2007
From: Franca Wermuth

Dear Bill
I'm not so sure if this is Chromodoris magnifica or C. annae? Nearby there was a Chromodoris annae, so maybe it's the same species but different coloring?

Locality: Agtongo (Cabanbanan beach), Romblon, Philippines, South China Sea, 30 April 2007. Photographer: Franca Wermuth.

Thanks for your help!

Franca

franca.wermuth@gmx.ch

Wermuth, F., 2007 (Aug 16) Chromodoris magnifica or C. annae. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20173

Dear Franca,

Both these species have a submarginal orange border and C. magnifica does seem to have more variability in colour than was originally thought, so your difficulty in identifying this animal is well justified. Looking closely at the blue region there appears to be the dark spotting or punctate pattern found in C. annae, but we have a photo of C. magnifica [#6114] with similar punctations but without the blue background. Also I have indentified some other animals with a blue background as C. magnifica, which is all a bit confusing. I am not sure what the full story is as yet but photos like yours are helping to sort out the problem. In general shape, C. magnifica  has a broader mantle skirt but the tissue is thinner than in  C. annae, which has a more elongate shape and with a narrower mantle skirt, much like the differences between the Indian Ocean pair, C. africana and C. quadricolor.   I think it is best to identify your animal as C. magnifica, but I could be wrong.

It is interesting to see it apparently feeding on a greyish-white sponge, and in the general photo alongside, there seems to be quite a bit of that sponge around. The only good records we have of C. magnifica feeding is on red sponges of Negombata, although other species feeding on Negombata also feed on greyish thorectid sponges. Although there is not enough detail to positively identify the sponge, it is an intersting observation. Chromodoris annae definitely feeds on grey thorectids, so it would not be unusual to find both C. magnifica and C. annae together feeding on the same sponges, which I suspect is what is happening here.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 16). Comment on Chromodoris magnifica or C. annae by Franca Wermuth. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20173

Factsheet

Chromodoris magnifica

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