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Chromodoris aurigera
Courtesy of Douglas Hoffman
Chromodoris aurigera Rudman, 1990
In 1990 Bill Rudman described a tiny, beautiful new species of Chromodoris
based on a single, very rare specimen. To our knowledge this species has
not been observed since. Well, this week we may be sticking our necks out,
but I believe that Doug's photo seen here, constitute the second sighting
of Chromodoris aurigera Rudman, 1990.
Aside from the photo seen here the only other color photo of this species can be found in Sea Slugs of Western Australia by Wells & Bryce (see figure 157, bottom of page 125). The body of this species is creamy white with a pink tint. There are metallic gold marks and saddles. The seven uni-pinnate gills and rhinophores are pink fading to yellow.
Absolutely nothing is known of the ecology of this species, which is about 1 cm in length. Rudman's holotype was collected at Quinn's Rock in Western Australia, and Doug's photo was taken in Indonesia.
Keep your eyes open and let us know if you come across this beauty in your
travels. With another specimen or two and a few more photos, we might be
able to determine if my assumption on identity is correct.
Danville, Calif
Oct. 2000
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Douglas is a successful photojournalist and video maker. He has won 15 international awards for photography and been published in American, Austrailian, Asian, Japanese, and Indonesian magazines. SDJ was the first Chinese diving magazine to publish his works. Check out the nikon 2001 calander to see one of douglas's award winning
shots.
An avid diver and international award winning marine photogapher, Douglas Hoffman lives in Maui, Hawaii with his wife Mieko. The couple operates Maui Photography, and offers a range of services including wedding coordination, wedding photography, family portraits, underwater photography, stock, and assignment photography. They also lead one or two trips a year to exciting destinations in the indo-pacific. Groups are limited to 6 - 8 people. The next trip with space is a 10 - 12 day cruise on a sailing yacht to the Burma Banks. They will depart from Phuket, Thailand in early December 2001. In August 2001, they are planning another Indonesia live-aboard trip. Check out the marine photography/indonesia link at their Web Site for additional information |
Taxonomic information courtesy of Dave Behrens
David W. Behrens
Author:
Pacific Coast Nudibranchs |
