Chromodoris magnifica
Encyclopedia
Chromodoris magnifica is a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of nudibranch
Nudibranch
A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...

, a shell-less marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae
Chromodorididae
Chromodorididae are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, colorful, sea slugs; dorid nudibranchs in the superfamily Doridoidea. These are marine gastropod mollusks....

.

Distribution

This nudibranch is found in the Western Pacific Ocean from Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 and Eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Description

The specific epithet magnifica in Chromodoris magnifica means magnificent, so-named because of this nudibranch's striking, vibrant colors: longitudinal blue, black, white and yellow lines with orange gills and rhinophores. This species is easily confused with the similar looking Chromodoris quadricolor
Chromodoris quadricolor
Chromodoris quadricolor is a species of very colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk.The specific epithet quadricolor means four-colored, so-named because this nudibranch is yellow, white, blue and black in color.-Distribution:This dorid nudibranch lives in...

. Chromodoris magnifica can be distinguished by its submarginal orange border.

Ecology

Chromodoris magnifica feeds on sponges and has been observed feeding on red sponges of the genus Negombata.

Books

  • Debelius, Helmut, 2001, Nudibranchs and Sea Snails: Indo-Pacific Field Guide, IKAN - Unterwasserarchiv, Frankfurt, Germany.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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