The book Sea Slugs of Western Australia on page 116, frame 142, identifies a nudibranch that appears similar to this one as Hypselodoris maculosa (synonym Hypselodoris decorata). Another reference is made to H. maculosa in the new Helmut Debelius book on nudibranchs and sea snails. On the web, there is a photo of H. maculosa on Mike Miller's Slug Site, under "Philippine nudibranchs". It has a similar color scheme, with the exception of the solid orange band with an S-shaped inner border on its notum. Despite these various sources I was undecided whether this is the same species until I received an e-mail from Erwin Koehler, proprieter of the Mediterranean Slug Site, in late January '99. Mr. Koehler faced a similar dilemma identifying a photo of a nudibranch identical to the one shown above, and submitted a picture of his Philippine specimen to malacologist Dr. Bill Rudman at the highly regarded Australian Museum Online's Sea Slug Forum. Dr. Rudman confirmed on this page from the forum, supported with photos, that Mr. Koehler's specimen is H. maculosa, and that various specimens of this species vary in color.

Nudibranchs of the same species but different localities often show minor variations in color scheme (sometimes due to different diets). Nudibranchs may also change colors with maturity. The shape of a nudibranch species remains unchanged regardless of locality.

Identification: Hypselodoris maculosa

Back to the thumbnail page