Girdled Glossodoris

Description

Glossodoris cincta has a mottled brown body. Its gills and rhinophores are also brown. Both the edge of its heavily indented mantle and its foot are lined with an outer blue, middle black and an inner yellow line. There is some variation in this edge coloring with distribution.

Body is mottled brown, fleshy and lumpy, oval shaped with pronounced undulations on the mantle edge. Its gills and rhinophores are also brown. Both the edge of its heavily indented mantle and its foot are lined with an outer blue, middle black and an inner yellow line. There is some variation in this edge coloring with distribution.
It has three regional colour forms. The southwest Pacific form has a mottled brown body with bluish white (outer), then black, then yellow (inner) bands on the heavily folded mantle edge, and the foot. The Philippines - Indonesia colour form has a bluish outer band on the mantle edge but the inner black and yellow lines tend to merge into a dull khaki band. The East African animals lack a distinct bluish white band at the mantle edge.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean. It has been observed as far afield as Tanzania in Africa and New Caledonia in the Pacific.

Biology

As is the case with many nudibranchs in the family Chromodorididae, Glossodoris cincta feeds on sponges.