Hypselodoris pulchella

Order : NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: EUCTENIDIACEA
Infra order : DORIDACEA
Superfamily : DORIDOIDEA
Family : Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION
Indian Ocean. Relatively common in the Red Sea and East Africa. Also seen in southern Thailand.

Originally described from the Red Sea, where it coexists with the similarly coloured Hypselodoris ghardaqana and Goniobranchus annulata. In the western Pacific there is another species, Hypselodoris imperialis, which differs externally only in the absence of the purple border to the foot and the smudged purple reticulate pattern found on the dorsum of this species. It grows to 10cm fully extended. The mantle is of a somewhat opaque creamy white, marked by a bluish purple tinge in irregular areas on the mantle and sides of the foot. All the dorsal surface of the mantle and the foot is covered with yellowish orange spots of irregular shape and different sizes. The mantle margin is fringed with a thin border of bright bluish violet. The posterior tip of the foot may have a similar border. The front of the mantle forms a veil which continuously waves up and down when crawling. The rhinophores have a white stem and blue leaves. The gills are simple and the colour of the edge can vary from violet to orange yellow in a single specimen. The gills are often branched and wave rhythmically from side to side. When recently spawned, the egg ribbon is reddish orange and it is attached along one edge in a spiral, the free edge being slightly wavy.