Marine Life / Nudibranchs

Carminodoris estrelyado

kingdom

Animalia

phylum

Mollusca

class

Gastropoda

order

Nudibranchia

family

Discodorididae

genus

Carminodoris

species

Carminodoris estrelyado

Carminodoris estrelyado is a dorid nudibranch in the family Discodorididae. Its pale, bumpy mantle helps it blend into its surroundings. The outline can be difficult to recognise until the front rhinophores or rear gills reveal that it is an animal.

Discodoridids include many sponge feeders. That family-level pattern is useful background, but an exact prey species should not be assigned from this photograph. A slug resting on a surface is not necessarily eating it.

For divers in the Philippines, cryptic dorids reward a patient search and careful comparison with the book. Surface texture and body outline can be as important as a conspicuous colour pattern.

Try gentle side lighting to show the bumps without washing out pale details. Include a wider frame of the whole mantle as well as the head, and never peel the slug from its resting place.

It appears on page 71 of Nudibranchs of the Philippines.

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