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Platydoris angustipes
Image of 52 mm animal, taken by Hans Bertsch
20 feet deep, Beau Sejour Pt., Grenada, 18 August 1986
Platydoris angustipes (Mörch, 1863)
Color of dorsum ranges from reddish brow, to red or orange, with varying amounts of scattered white spots. These white specks are usually concentrated in 3-4 dense groups, irregularly across the dorsum and along the mantle edge. Dark brown rhinophores; branchial leaves are straw colored with opaque white specks. Can reach a length of 150 mm.
Widely distributed across the Caribbean and tropical western Atlantic, from Florida to Brazil, from the outer Antillean Islands to the eastern coat of Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. I found it numerous times during my research in Grenada (Bertsch, 1987); the map shows the location of Beau Sejour Point.
This species reminds me of another “Big Red,” the Indo-Pacific Hexabranchus sanguineus. The red coloration we see with illumination or in an aquarium, is most likely cryptic, because it appears black at depth!
The species name angustipes is a combination of two Latin words and means "narrow foot".
Reference:
Bertsch, Hans. 1987. A first report of the marine habitats and biota of the island of Grenada (southeastern Caribbean). The Festivus 19 (3): 21-26.
Imperial Beach, Calif
Apr., 2023
Send Hans email at hansmarvida@sbcglobal.net
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