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Blue-speckled nudibranch

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Blue-speckled nudibranch
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Superfamily: Phyllidioidea
Family: Dendrodorididae
Genus: Dendrodoris
Species:
D. caesia
Binomial name
Dendrodoris caesia
(Bergh, 1905)

The blue-speckled nudibranch (Dendrodoris caesia) is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dendrodorididae.

Distribution

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This species has so far only been found around the southern African coast from the Cape Peninsula to Port Elizabeth subtidally to at least 20 m. It is probably endemic.[1]

Description

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A pink morph of the blue-speckled nudibranch

The blue-speckled nudibranch is a large nudibranch with a frilly margin. The speckles can be almost continuous and in some specimens the animal is pink-speckled. The rhinophores are perfoliate and the gill rosette is large and blue-edged. It may reach a total length of 120 mm.[2]

Ecology

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This species feeds on a yellow-brown sponge. The egg mass is a messy ribbon of several whorls.

References

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  1. ^ GOSLINER, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
  2. ^ ZSILAVECZ, G. 2007. Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. ISBN 0-620-38054-3