Platydoris scabra
(Cuvier, 1804)

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

DISTRIBUTION

Tropical Indo-West Pacific

PHOTO

UPPER RIGHT: Mazzazini, Zanzibar, Tanzania, July 1971. Colour form with yellow edging to mantle, foot, and gill & rhinophore pockets.
LOWER: Ilot Rat (=I. de la Table), near Koumac, New Caledonia, 20°33.7'S, 164°11'E, intertidal, mixed substrate, 12 October 1993, 98mm long alive. Specimen with no yellow mantle edge but traces of yellow on gill & rhinophore pockets and foot.

The mantle is white with subtle patching of grey or brown formed from the aggregation of brown spots. In some specimens the edge of the mantle, foot, rhinophore pockets and gill pockets are yellow, but in many specimens they are not. Both its relative commonness and wide Indo-West Pacific distribution has led to many names being given to living and preserved specimens. This species, with P. striata, P. formosa and P. cruenta form a group of very similar species, two of which have brown spots and two have brown lines. In each pair, one species has red spots and the other does not. The brown spotted pair are P. scabra (without) and P. formosa (with red patches) while the lined pair are P. striata (without) and P. cruenta (with red patches). Mantle stiff and rigid. Grows to at least 10cm long.

Reference:
• Cuvier, G.L. (1804). Mémoire sur le genre Doris. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 4:447-473.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2000 (September 11) Platydoris scabra (Cuvier, 1804). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/platscab

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