Dulcerana affinis (Broderip, 1833)
63mm

Dulcerana affinis is a very common species in the Marshalls, living in a variety of reef habitats throughout the atolls. It is most often found under rocks on hard substrates. Color of the shell ranges from dark to light. Although long considered Bursa granularis, recent molecular data indicates that there are in fact four similar species. By shell characteristics, D. granularis and D. affinis are difficult to tell apart. Our determination of these as D. affinis is based primarily on location. D. granularis is currently considered to be distributed from the Red Sea and East Africa to the Western Pacific, including Australia and the Philippines but not Micronesia. D. affinis ranges throughout the tropical Pacific, overlapping with D. granularis in the west.

The specimen below was found eating the arm of a brittle star.

This one was on an egg mass.

Created 10 August 2010
Updated 21 March 2022

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