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Goniodoridella sp.
Images courtesy of Deb AstonSeaway, Australia
Estimated size 5 mm
Goniodoridella sp. Undescribed
Well Deb Aston and Patrick Good have come across another of these mind boggling, tiny phanerobranch dorids. As Deb pointed out to us, this little guy doesn't match any published photos. It does have some distinctive characteristics however.
The rhinophores are brown with white specks. The gill is pure white. And there is a very distinctive brown pigmented region behind the rhinophores and along the dorsal margin.
Now looking at the numerous undescribed species in "Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs," and since this group has not been studied well, one might ask if we be seeing wide variation in color of a few species. Goniodoridella sp. 5 (page 127) has brown rhinophores like Deb & Patrick's critter. Goniodoridella sp. 7 (page 128) has a brown patch behind the rhinophores like Deb & Patrick's critter. All three have pure white gills.
Might be a reach, but is worth considering.
Gig Harbor, Washington
Jul., 2012
Deb with friend
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Hi my name is Deb Aston and I began diving in 1983 and my early log books record the colours of the nudibranch that I had discovered but very little detail. In 2004 I purchased my first Canon compact camera and this meant at last I could ID the branchs I had found during my dives. I live in Brisbane, Australia and dive on a regular basis utilising our 4.6m Crusada rib ‘Duck Diver’. Our nearest shore dive is the Gold Coast Seaway which is 1 hrs drive south. It is here at the Seaway that I have begun to record the nudibranchs found and am amazed to report over 70 species found now since 1 July 2011. Most species are found during night dives. My husband is also a diver and along with a great bunch of dives buds we have dived many Queensland sites as well as Nelson Bay in New South Wales and recently spent two months in South Australia checking out the southern species. My current camera rig is a Canon 500D camera with 60mm & 18-55mm Canon and 10-17 Tonkina lenses with 2 Inon Z240 strobes connected with fibre optic. The housing is a Sea & Sea RDX450 housing and I use a Sola 600 as focus and night light.
Send Deb email at dtaston@bigpond.net.au |
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