This could be a species of Thordisa but this has not been verified. The single known specimen from the Marshalls was found at Enewetak Atoll, under a sheet of aluminum storm debris in about 3 meters of water on 11 August 1983, and the animal measured 20mm. The picture is not very good, so notes on the living animal follow. The body is oval and wide with the margins hiding the foot. The mantle is finely crisscrossed irregularly with minute ridges, which give the body an irregular, minutely conulose appearance. Ridges are not smooth but rather are finely bumpy. There is a row of bumps along middorsal line, the last one, just anterior to the gills, the largest. The ridges are brownish purplish gray, minutely flecked with darker brown. The pits between ridges are darker brown. Scattered about are irregular patches of cream yellow which do not cover the entire surface within the "patch" but are mostly on the ridges. From these cream-colored areas in particular are rather numerous yellowish tendrils, variable in size, with the longest appearing to be up to about 2mm; these may be longer when stretched out. The oral tentacles are conical and pointed. The bottom of the foot is white. The sides of the foot are white with fine brownish speckling, aggregating into patches. The underside of the mantle is white with a visible network of spicules. The rhinophore sheaths are elevated, crenulate at the edge. The rhinophore peduncle is colored the same as the ridges on the body, with the clubs more brownish with darker speckling and cream white tips. There are 13 wide lamellae that are slightly oblique. The gills consist of at least three tri or quadripinnate stalks that are mostly whitish, more opaque white on the outer rachis, but with some fine brown speckling throughout.
Created 24 February 2007
Updated 9 February 2024