Dendrodoris fumata? from the Seychelles

September 6, 2007
From: David K A Barnes

Three pics of this orange/red sea slug taken on the lower shore in rock/sand/reef habitat. Does anyone know what it might be, sorry no specimen.

Locality: Silhouette Is, Intertidal, Seychelles, Indian, August 2007, Rock and sand with some coral. Length: ~4cm. Photographer: Richard Barnes.

Richard Barnes

dkab@bas.ac.uk

Barnes D.K.A., 2007 (Sep 6) Dendrodoris fumata? from the Seychelles. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20544

Dear Dave,

This is a species of Dendrodoris which used to be known as Dendrodoris rubra Kelaart 1858 but has more recently been considered a red colour form of Dendrodoris fumata. I have a photo of a specimen almost identical to yours from Zanzibar on the D. fumata Fact Sheet. If you also look at the Dendrodoris nigra Fact Sheet you will see that both species have a similar range of colour forms and both usually are red as juveniles. I must say I am beginning to wonder if we have gone to far with lumping all these colour forms into two species, but as species of Dendrodoris lack radular teeth, which are quite valuable in species differentiation, its going to be a painstaking job working out how many of these red and black species there are. It would be very valuable if we had a better idea of their egg ribbons and larval development as the little we do have suggests there are differences. The main problem is is linking these reproductive differences to identifiable animals.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Sep 6). Comment on Dendrodoris fumata? from the Seychelles by David K A Barnes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20544

Factsheet

Dendrodoris fumata

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