Dendrodoris fumata or D. nigra?

April 1, 2009
From: Apte Deepak


Concerning message #21797:

Dear Dr. Bill

Is the attached image of Dendrodoris nigra or D. fumata?

Locality: Gulf of Kutch, exposed reef, Gujarat, India, Arabian Sea, 27 March 2009, Mud dominated reef. Length: 50 to 60 mm. Photographer: Deepak Apte.

Deepak Apte

spiderconch@gmail.com

Apte D.A., 2009 (Apr 1) Dendrodoris fumata or D. nigra?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22374

Dear Deepak,
These are both D. fumata. From the Fact Sheets for both species, you will see that they have much the same range of colour variation. The simplest way of separating them is to look at the extended gills. D. fumata has about 5 large spreading gills while D. nigra has 10 or more short gills which stand quite upright. Of course if you have photos only and the gills are not extended this character is a problem. You can see the large spreading gills in the black animal. In the reddish animal, the gills appear to be only partially extended which fits with D. fumata.  

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Apr 1). Comment on Dendrodoris fumata or D. nigra? by Apte Deepak. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22374

Factsheet

Dendrodoris fumata

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