Goniobranchus leopardus
February 25, 2017
Goniobranchus hintuanensis
February 25, 2017
Order : NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: EUCTENIDIACEA
Infra order : DORIDACEA
Superfamily : DORIDOIDEA
Family : Chromodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Tropical West Pacific.
This is one of a group of similarly coloured species called the “Hypselodoris tryoni colour group”. Other species include Hypselodoris tryoni, Goniobranchus geminus and Chromodoris leopardus. They all have large purple or purple-brown spots or marks, usually ringed with white, an often reticulate brownish background, and a purple border. Goniobranchus differs in having four colour bands around the mantle edge, an outermost white, then translucent greyish purple, then white, then yellow. The other three have a distinct purple line at the border, narrow in C. leopardus and H. tryoni, but broad in G. kuniei. The shape of the body of H. tryoni, high with a reduced mantle overlap, is typical of the genus Risbecia. The three species have a wide mantle overlap. Of the three with the purple mantle edge, C. leopardus and G. kuniei can be distinguished from H. tryoni by the broad purple border, consisting of three slightly different coloured bands in G. kuniei, and by the leopard-like multiple spots, or marks, forming a hollow square, found in C. leopardus.
