Kalinga ornata
Encyclopedia
Kalinga ornata is a species of large, colorful nudibranch
in the family Polyceridae
. It is the only species in the genus Kalinga, and is the type genus
of the subfamily Kalinginae.
(though it has also been reported from Hawaii
). While it occasionally washes up in shallow regions, live individuals have been observed by divers at a depth of 6 m, they have been trawled from depths of 76 m, and observed by an ROV at a depth of 182 m.
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...
in the family Polyceridae
Polyceridae
Polyceridae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks within the Superfamily Polyceroidea.- Taxonomy :...
. It is the only species in the genus Kalinga, and is the type genus
Type genus
In biological classification, a type genus is a representative genus, as with regard to a biological family. The term and concept is used much more often and much more formally in zoology than it is in botany, and the definition is dependent on the nomenclatural Code that applies:* In zoological...
of the subfamily Kalinginae.
Distribution
Kalinga ornata resides in the deep coastal waters of the Indo-West PacificIndo-West Pacific
The Indo-West Pacific, or IWP, is a zoogeographical region spanning the entire Indian Ocean including the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean as far as the Caroline Islands but short of the Marshall Islands...
(though it has also been reported from Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
). While it occasionally washes up in shallow regions, live individuals have been observed by divers at a depth of 6 m, they have been trawled from depths of 76 m, and observed by an ROV at a depth of 182 m.