Chromodoris tinctoria from Port Philip Bay, Victoria

November 25, 2009
From: Peter Eyre

Hi Bill,

I took this photo of a fairly common nudibranch found under the Blairgowrie marina in Port Phillip Bay. It is commonly found on the sand but also numerous on the pylons of the marina. I've been told it goes under the common name of Meshed Chromodoris but is yet officially unnamed. Can you shine some light on this?

Locality: Blairgowrie, 5m, Victoria, Australia, Port Phillip Bay, 21 November 2009, sheltered sandy bottom. Length: 65 mm. Photographer: Peter Eyre.

Thanks
Peter

pete_eyre@yahoo.com

Eyre, P.J., 2009 (Nov 25) Chromodoris tinctoria from Port Philip Bay, Victoria. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22838

Dear Peter,

This is Chromodoris tinctoria. It is found throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific and is quite variable in colour pattern. Over the years a number of names have been proposed for various colour patterns but the patterns tend to merge into each other and certainly here is no geographical separation or obvious anatomical differences. This 'colour form' has been quite common in Western Australia and St Vincents Gulf in South Australia. I think its regular occurrence in Port Philip Bay is a fairly recent phenomenon - certainly Bob Burn didn't list it from there in 1989.

If you have photos of it feeding or aggregating on a particular sponge, or laying eggs, they woud be of great interest. In species or 'species groups' with variation like this, it is always possible that some biological observation - say different sized eggs or shape of egg ribbon or food sponge, will give us a clue to differences not immediately obvious from their anatomy.

This is one of an interesting tropical faunal element which appears to have colonised southern Australia from Western Australia rather than down the east coast, as records of C. tinctoria appear to be absent from southern New South Wales.

  • Burn, R. F. (1989). Opisthobranchs (Subclass Opisthobranchia): Marine Invertebrates of Southern Australia, Part 2. S. A. Shepherd, I. M. Thomas, S. A. Shepherd and I. M. Thomas. Adelaide, Government Printer (South Australia): 725-788.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Nov 25). Comment on Chromodoris tinctoria from Port Philip Bay, Victoria by Peter Eyre. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22838

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