Violet Goniobranchus

Goniobranchus conchyliatus is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.

Description

The body is pale violet with rounded areas of creamy yellow pustules, and deeper violet and red markings. These marks follow the contours of bilaterally symmetrical yellow pustules.

The gills are lined with red or reddish-orange. The rhinophore are uniformly red or reddish-orange with a with white stalk.

Ventrally, the head, the simple oral tentacles, and the foot are white. In lateral view, a longitudinal dark violet line can be seen between the foot and the mantle. Orange and purple coloring to the ventral surface of the anterior mantle.

It is similar in coloration to Goniobranchus geometricus from the West Pacific Ocean.

On the posterior end of the foot of Goniobranchus geometricus, we often observed two black lateral lines that join in the midline, which is not the case on specimens of Goniobranchus conchyliatus.

Distribution

Indian Ocean: Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Reunion, Mayotte.

Habitat

It feeds on sponges Chelonaplysilla violacea.