Platydoris pulchra from Thailand
May 21, 2009
From: Vie Panyarachun
Dear Dr. Rudman,
I hope you can help me with IDing this one. The colours reminds me of some photos I have seen of Chromodoris alternata but this particular animal was found in Thailand during a night dive.
Locality: Ko Tachai, Similan Islands National Park, 4 msw, Thailand, Andaman Sea, 21 February 2009, Shallow reef. Length: Not sure.... Photographer: Vie Panyarachun.
Thank you so much.
Vie Panyarachun
vpanyarachun@hotmail.com
Panyarachun, Vie, 2009 (May 21) Platydoris pulchra from Thailand. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22283
Dear Vie,
It does have a general resemblance to C. alternata but if you look at the close-up, you will see in the light brown foreground that the mantle is covered in small tubercles. I am pretty sure this is Platydoris pulchra. None of the photos on the Forum at present show very 'typical' specimens of this species so in a separate message [ #22489] I have included some specimens I photographed in Zanzibar, Tanzania in the 1970s. This species was originally described from east Africa and this is the first record of it so far east in the Indian Ocean.
As you will see from my photos, your animal has a much redder pigmentation than animals I am familiar with, but the arrangement of the various colours and the dull purplish blotches a round the edge are very similar.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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