Aldisa sp. 4

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Dorididae

PHOTO

Upper: Park Rynie, south coast KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 32 m, December 2001. Length: 18 mm. Photo: Valda Fraser.
Lower: Sodwana, South Africa, 15m. January 2002. Size: 12mm. Photo: Valda Fraser

This species appears to range from animals with a reticulate pattern of ridges all over the mantle to animals in which the network is more obscure, and riounded tubercles predominate. The tubercles appear to represent the junctions of the ridges. There are two or three crater like pits down the dorsal midline, the bottom of the pits having a number of dark brown oval spots. 

The only species I know of with a network of ridges over the mantle, as in this species, is Aldisa pikokai which is known at present only from Hawaii and the Marshall Ids in the central Pacific. That species also has two or three large sunken pits in the dorsal midline and sometimes these have dark spots. It is possible that this Sth African animal is Aldisa pikokai but we would need to check its anatomy and hopefully find some records in other parts of the Indo-West Pacific.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2005 (May 17) Aldisa sp. 4 [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aldisp4

Related messages

  1. Re: Aldisa sp. 4 from Madagascar
    From: Les Clear, November 27, 2009
  2. Aldisa sp. 4 from Madagascar
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  3. Aldisa sp from Reunion island
    From: Philibert Bidgrain, April 12, 2006
  4. Aldisa from Sth Africa
    From: Colin Ogden, May 18, 2005
  5. Aldisa? from South Africa
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