Paradoris erythraeensis
(Vayssiere, 1912)

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

DISTRIBUTION

Indo-West Pacific

PHOTO

Locality: Eilat, Satil Area, 24 m, Israel, Red Sea (Gulf of Eilat), 13 May 2006 (night), sea grass, occasional coral heads. Length: 11 mm. Photographer: Binyamin and Shulamit Koretz.

Translucent white, grey or brownish background colour. The mantle has a few light brown patches, each with a centrally placed small black, or dark brown, spot. There are scattered rounded tubercles and the mantle surface contains small whitish spheres. Gohar & Aboul-Ela (1959) reported on their study of large numbers of this species from the Egyptian Red Sea, describing its external shape and colour, foregut anatomy, reproductive system, reproductive behaviour and larval development. Although their study seemed to suggest this was a common animal, few other records of it exist. It is possible that it is often misidentified as a juvenile Discodoris.

In some specimens there appears to be a yellowish band around the mantle edge. It grows to about 5 cm in length alive.

  • Dayrat, B. (2006) A taxonomic revision of Paradoris sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Doridina). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 147 (2): 125-238.
  • Gohar, H. A. F. & Aboul-Ela, I. A. (1959) On the biology and development of three nudibranchs (from the Red Sea). Publications of the Marine Biological Station, Al-Ghardaqa, Egypt, 10: 41-62.
  • Vayssière, A. (1912) Recherches zoologiques et anatomiques sur les Opisthobranches de la Mer Rouge et du Golfe d'Aden Pt. 2. Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Marseilles, 20: 5-157,pls1-11.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2007 (March 1) Paradoris erythraeensis (Vayssiere, 1912). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/paraeryt

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