Goniobranchus
sp. e048
25mm
This is an apparently undescribed
species of Goniobranchus that we have seen at Kwajalein
and Enewetak Atolls. It
lives under dead coral rocks by day and has been observed several times exposed
on lagoon pinnacles at night. At least a dozen specimens have been found at
depths of 1 to 13 meters and ranging in size up to about 25mm. We have also
seen a photo of this species from Guam by Clay Carlson and Patty Jo Hoff.
At
first glance, this animal kind of looks like it should be some kind of dendrodorid
rather than a chromodorid. However, its reproductive system anatomy and radular
tooth morphology place it firmly in the Chromodorididae.
The
species varies somewhat in color. The specimen below was nearly devoid of the
magenta coloration that appeared in variable patches on most other specimens.
This one, the 25mm specimen found at Kwajalein, had only a few small patches
that were more reddish brown than magenta.
The next three shots show
a small 8mm-long specimen found on 2 November 2009 on a shallow Kwajalein lagoon
reef. The internal orange blob of yolk visible through the dorsum a short ways
behind the right rhinophore indicates it is sexually mature, however. This yolk
will be deposited in orange extra-capsular yolk bodies in their egg masses.
The specimen below was found on
21 June 2010 under a sheet of corrugated aluminum blown into Kwajalein Harbor
long enough before to develop a good crop of sponges and other encrusting organisms
on its underside.
This was the shallowest one we've
seen. It was under a concrete slab along the Kwajalein Island lagoon shore in
less than a meter of water at mid tide.
This one was on the same rock as
a Diversidoris flava at Enewetak.
Created 16 December 2005
Updated 7 November 2021
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