Blue-speckled nudibranch
| Blue-speckled nudibranch | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Superfamily: | Phyllidioidea |
| Family: | Dendrodorididae |
| Genus: | Dendrodoris |
| Species: | D. caesia
|
| Binomial name | |
| Dendrodoris caesia (Bergh, 1905)
| |
The blue-speckled nudibranch (Dendrodoris caesia) is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dendrodorididae.
Distribution
[edit]This species has so far only been found around the southern African coast from the Cape Peninsula to Port Elizabeth subtidally to at least 20 m. It is probably endemic.[1]
Description
[edit]
The blue-speckled nudibranch is a large nudibranch with a frilly margin. The speckles can be almost continuous and in some specimens the animal is pink-speckled. The rhinophores are perfoliate and the gill rosette is large and blue-edged. It may reach a total length of 120 mm.[2]
Ecology
[edit]This species feeds on a yellow-brown sponge. The egg mass is a messy ribbon of several whorls.
References
[edit]- ^ GOSLINER, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
- ^ ZSILAVECZ, G. 2007. Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. ISBN 0-620-38054-3