Strawberry Nudibranch

Gymnodoris aurita is a species of sea slugs, dorid nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs in the family Polyceridae.

Description

It has bright red colour, low rounded yellowish pustules, yellow border to the foot, and large gills. The eight multipinnate gills are large, twice the animal's width, translucent white to red, with white to yellowish white ridges. The bases of the auriculate oral tentacles has a yellowish white band as the margin of the foot. The rhinophores are white to yellow, short and perfoliate, with 15 steeply set lamellae. They appear to attach to the body more at an angle rather than being strictly perpendicular to the axis of the rhinophore. It grows to at least 90 mm in length.

Distribution

Indo-West Pacific: from Fiji to the Philippines and Indonesia.

Habitat

It inhabits shallow water reef and is active nocturnally. It feeds on upopn tritoniid nudibranchs of genus Marionia.