Chromodoris kuiteri? from Gulf of Aqaba

November 17, 2003
From: Michael Levin

Hello,
The most common nudibranchs spotted by divers in Eilat(Aqaba) bay in are the 'pyjama slugs' - Chromodoris africana and Chromodoris quadricolor, but there is also third nudibranch with very similar color variation, but it much bigger and I find it very similiar to the Chromodoris kuiteri which known only from Queensland.

I would like to hear your knowledgeable opinion.

Best regards,
Michael Levin.
www.pbase.com/manta_ray/nudibranch

michael@scubadiving.com

Levin, M., 2003 (Nov 17) Chromodoris kuiteri? from Gulf of Aqaba. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11352

Dear Michael,
From you photo and your mention that this is much larger than the other 'pyjama slugs' I would say this is C. africana which would suggest that one of the other smaller species is something else - Chromodoris hamiltoni perhaps?

I'm afraid the more photos I see of animals from the Indian Ocean and Red Sea the less confidence I have in being 'knowledgeable' about them. The only way to sort out how many species there are is to study living populations and see what patterns occur. It is possible that more than one species may have similar colour patterns, or two species may have variation in their colour patterns so sometimes they look idemtical and other times different. What we need is more information on what they eat and what their eggs ribbons look like. Different species may have anatomical differences but it's not much use knowing that if two different anatomies can have the same colour pattern
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Nov 17). Comment on Chromodoris kuiteri? from Gulf of Aqaba by Michael Levin. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11352

Factsheet

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