Godiva? from the Marshall Islands
February 15, 2002
From: Scott Johnson
Hi Bill,
These animals were found under rocks in the intertidal zone at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. They measured about 12mm in length. I know the scans are not especially clear, but can you tell what they might be? I have a comment with my collection notes that the animal has some resemblance to your Godiva rachelae, but I stopped short of actually calling it that. Is it close?
Scott
johnson@kmr.ll.mit.edu
Dear Scott,
It certainly has the look of G. rachelae with the two translucent bands on the oral tentacles and the orange lines on the head and body, but there is no blue band on the cerata in that species. I at first thought the annuli on the rhinophores of your animal wa another difference but I note that one of my animals had annuli while the others were smooth.
Basically I don't think we know enough about colour variation in these animals to say whether thse are colour variants or different species. I have prepared a page on Godiva rachelae for comparison. At the moment I think I'll leave your animal as Godiva sp. 1.
Cheers,
Bill Rudman
