Hypselodoris bayeri
(Marcus & Marcus, 1967)

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

DISTRIBUTION

Caribbean

PHOTO

Virginia Key, Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA. Depth: 20 ft. Length: 2-3 cm. Photographer: Phillip Gillette.

This species was described from two preserved specimens, and an accompanying colour slide from Virginia Key, Florida. Because there is some confusion as to the indentity of this species, I have copied the original colour description verbatim:
'The color alive (based on a photograph) is: notum blue with 6-10 longitudinal anastomosing orange yellow lines edged with black, the more lateral ones often interrupted. The margin of the notum is white, indistinctly set off from the blue ground color, containing black spots of different size, and bordered by a yellow line externally. There is a yellow circle around the blue rhinophores. The gills are colorless with a black line alone the atterent vessel and a yellow with black one alone the efferent vessel. The tail is white with orange yellow lines and black spots, edged with blue. The sides of the foot bear yellow stripes.'

I have had my doubts about many of the animals identified as H. bayeri in the literature. None of them have fitted the original description very well. Phillip Gillette's upper photo however the Marcus's description almost exactly. From the lower photo we can see that the colour obviously varies from animals with a number of thin yellow longitudinal lines down the mantle, each outlined in black as in Marcus's description, to animals in which the yellow lines are less clear and the blue spots more dominant, as in your photo alongside. It is possible that the animal from the Virgin Ids [see message #7999] is an extreme colour form.

• Marcus, Er. & Marcus, Ev. (1967) American opisthobranch mollusks. Part 1, Tropical American opisthobranchs. Studies Tropical Oceanography, Miami, 6(1-2): 1-137. (Figs 1-150, Pl.1, figs 1-9).

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