Chromodoris tennentana
(Kelaart, 1859)

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

DISTRIBUTION

East Africa, Sri Lanka.

PHOTO

Pangavini Is, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, November 1976, 20mm long alive. PHOTO: Bill Rudman.

This species was reported from East Africa (Edmunds, 1971) and identified with Eliot's description of Chromodoris vicina Eliot, 1904, with which it agrees almost exactly. However there would appear an earlier name, Doris tennentana Kelaart, 1859, from Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

In specimens for Tanzania the underside is white with a marginal row of blackish purple spots and a submarginal row of yellow spots.

In a earlier publication (Rudman, 1987) I considered that Chromodoris cavae Eliot, 1904, was also a synonym of C. tennentana, but a photo sent to the Forum by Valda Fraser, from South Africa, show that it is a distinct species.

References:
• Edmunds, M. (1971) Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Tanzania (Sub-Order: Doridacea. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 50: 339-396.
• Eliot, C.N.E. (1904) On some nudibranchs from East Africa and Zanzibar. Part IV. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, (1904): 380-406.
• Rudman, W.B. (1987) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Chromodoris epicuria, C. aureopurpurea, C. annulata, C. coi and Risbecia tryoni colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 90: 305-407.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (November 8) Chromodoris tennentana (Kelaart, 1859). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chrotenn

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