Lemon Gymnodoris

Description

It is translucent white, cream, yellow to orange with small orange-yellow spots all over. Each spot is raised on a short pointed papilla. The front of the mantle is broadly rounded and bears pointed orange-yellow tubercules. The rhinophores have a translucent stalk and lower half of the clavus. The upper half of the clavus is uniformly brown or straw coloured. The large and branched gills are translucent white or straw coloured.

Some specimens are much more heavily pigmented with orange, with large orange spots, the head almost completely orange and the gills and rhinophores club translucent orange. In some specimens two rows of orange-yellow pointed papilla form a slightly asymmetrical V-shaped pattern on either side of the branchiae. The front of the mantle is broadly rounded and bears pointed orange-yellow tubercules. When animals are active, these pustules elongate so as to ressemble papillae. The rhinophores are large and lamellate and situated very closed together on top of the head. They have a translucent stalk and lower half of the clavus. The upper half of the clavus is uniformly brown or straw coloured or tending to olive green. Sometimes the club is tipped with orange. They have 15 vertical lamellae, and a swollen club at the distal end. The gills which are large and branched form a circle or nearly complete circle around the anus. They are translucent white or straw, cream to yellow coloured. Sometimes there is an orange line on the outer edge of each gills axis. The black digestive gland becomes clearly visible at the center after the animal has fed. The genital aperture is situated on the right side half way between the rhinophores and the gills. Anterior end of the foot ends in two lobe sensory folds.

Distribution and habitat

Indo-Pacific Ocean. Found on shallow intertidal benches to 10 m depth. It's a voracious predator of other Gymnodoris spp and is also cannibalistic.