Hypselodoris lapislazuli
(Bertsch & Ferreira, 1971)

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

DISTRIBUTION

At present known only from the Galapagos Ids, eastern Pacific.

PHOTO

Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal Island, 10 m, Galapagos, Ecuador, September 1991. Length: 15 mm. Photographer: Terry Gosliner.

The mantle is a dark blue scattered with rounded or elongate bright yellow spots. There is a broad bluish white band around the mantle edge which can be continuous, or broken anteriorly and /or about midway down each side. There can also be elongate bluish white spots amongst the yellow spots, and in some specimens they can coalesce to form an almost continuous median band from the rhinophores back to the gills.

The body and foot are similarly coloured, with a dark blue background, yellow spots, and a bluish-white border. The rhinophores are dark blue with white spots. The gills are also dark blue with white tips. It grows to at least 15 mm in length.  It is one of a group of yellow spotted blue chromodorids from the eastern Pacific, including Mexichromis tura, Hypselodoris ghiselini, H. californiensis, H. agassizii, and Chromodoris spohni.

  • Bertsch, H. and Ferreira, A. J. (1974) Four new species of nudibranchs from tropical west America. The Veliger 16: 343-353.
  • Bertsch, H. (1978) The Chromodoridinae nudibranchs from the Pacific coast of America.--Part IV. The genus Hypselodoris. The Veliger 21: 236-250.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2006 (March 13) Hypselodoris lapislazuli (Bertsch & Ferreira, 1971). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/hypslapi

Related messages


Hyselodoris lapislazuli from the Galapgos Ids

July 18, 2006
From: Paul Humann

Dear Bill,

Dave Behrens forwarded me your message about needing a picture of
Hyselodoris lapislazuli. I've attached 3 photos which you may use. All
were taken in Galapagos.

Sorry I did not respond sooner, but I've been out running around the
world for most of the year since Feb. I'm finally back in the office
and catching up on about a billion e-mails.

Best regards,
Paul Humann

Humann, P., 2006 (Jul 18) Hyselodoris lapislazuli from the Galapgos Ids. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17156

Dear Paul,
Thanks very much. A few other photos of this species have been sent since I asked, but since this is a rarely reported species, and since there are a number of similarly coloured species in the East Pacific, it is good to have a few more photos so we can build up a better picture of its colour variability.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jul 18). Comment on Hyselodoris lapislazuli from the Galapgos Ids by Paul Humann. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17156

Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos

April 19, 2006
From: Clarke Duncan


Hi Bill,

I think this is Hypselodoris lapislazuli found diving around the Galapagos Islands. Please can you confirm the species (I'm probably wrong). Many thanks!

Locality: Cousin's Rocks, Santiago Island, 15 m, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Pacific Ocean, 30 March 2004, Rocky reef, shale bottom. Length: 50 mm. Photographer: Clarke Duncan.

Best regards,
Clarke

clarke_duncan@msn.com

Duncan, C.D., 2006 (Apr 19) Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16352

Dear Clarke,

I am pretty sure you are right with this identification. The East Pacific has quite a few chromodorid species with this colour pattern but this seems to be the only one with the plain white, or bluish white, mantle border. I am glad to get this photo because it is not a very well known species so every record is valuable - if only to give us a better idea of its colour variability.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Apr 19). Comment on Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos by Clarke Duncan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16352

Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos Ids

March 14, 2006
From: Terry Gosliner

HiBill,
I just remembered that I had promised to send you a photo of Hypselodoris lapislazuli from the Galapagos.

Locality: Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal Island, 10 m, Galapagos, Ecuador, September 1991. Length: 15 mm. Photographer: Terry Gosliner.

Enjoy!
Terry

tgosliner@calacademy.org

Gosliner, T., 2006 (Mar 14) Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos Ids. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16091

Thanks Terry,
I'm glad I'm not the only one with long lists of 'things to do'. While prpearing a Fact Sheet for this species I noticed I needed to update the Fact Sheets for Mexichromis antonii and M. tura. What suprised me was just how similar thei colour patterns are. Both have the same 5-banded mantle margin, with a pair of inner 'milky' coloured almost 'lumpy' bands nearly merging anteriorly. They also both have colourless gills with deep purple tips. In fact M. antonii is almost an 'albino' form of M. tura. I would be interested in any comments or information on these two species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Mar 14). Comment on Hypselodoris lapislazuli from Galapagos Ids by Terry Gosliner. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16091