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Chromodoris splendida
(Angas, 1864)
Ken Thongpila Fly Point, Nelson Bay Australia - Chromodoris splendida
Orietta Rivolta Wonderful!!!
Ken Thongpila Thanks Orietta :-)
Ning Chang GREAT SHOT Ken!!
Ken Thongpila Thanks Ning :-)
Ashley Missen Nice to see this shot got Pic of the week on Nudipixel
Ken Thongpila Thanks Ashley Missen... That's supprise to get that too :-)
Ashley Missen It's a great shot Ken - so when are you joining me for a dive at blairgowire Macro Heaven
Ken Thongpila I think in Summer but between Blairgowire Pier and Sunshine coast... Gary Cobb status each week get me want to get some numbers...
Ashley Missen Guess you have 2 Locations to go Might join you on the sunshine coast trip
Ken Thongpila That would be great.. I'm thinking sometime late Jan to mid Feb... About 5 days and like Thu to Tue... I will ask Gary first! and check the flight... Well again still between Blairgowire Pier and Sunshine coast :-) But look like better for Melb as summer will be warmer and I might not need dry suit :-) Sigh! both tempting... Next year is Nudi hunts all year.... :-)
Ashley Missen Now your talking - more data for the database
Ken Thongpila No worries at all Ash :-) Melb or Sunshine Then Nudi capital and Dauin in April next year too. Should built your database even more... Hehehe :-)
Ashley Missen I will step the game up one more step Ken - Guess who is going -- http://www.nudibranch.com.au/workshop.html
Ken Thongpila Wow! Very cool. I hope I can make it next time trip. Love to see every one on that list.
Ashley Missen Thanks Ken I am so excited to be going - I hope you notice some of the sponsors - cheers Ash
Ken Thongpila No I didn't know that ;-( well hope one day, I will meet them in real anyway rather than Facebook only.
Steve Wright hey Ken let me know if you come to Melb. l will join you on the Nudi hunt:)
Ashley Missen Looks like you are going to have to come down Ken - we will go over Blairgowrie with a finetooth comb - a couple of long dives should do it Cheers Ash - Any time you want a dive at Blairgowire Steve I m up for it - going down on sunday
Ken Thongpila No worries Steve Wright :-) I will let you know when I go there for sure.
Ken Thongpila Well Ashley Missen... I think the weight is going to Melb so far. As it in Summer and I don't need to get a dry suit to dive there... possible :-)
Gary Cobb The Sunshine Coast awaits....warm water, more branches than you can shake a fin at, etc etc etc....
Gary Cobb The water temp now here is 22 and i wear a 7mm semi dry!
Gary Cobb Ash....burrrrr....
Ken Thongpila I'm tempting about Sunshine coast too Gary Cobb :-) your every week reports are so great records... and cheaper flight too... Sigh!....
Loren Mariani This one reminds me of a Strawberry and Cream lolly. Looks like its missing a rhinophore or it hasn't popped up. Pic taken on the Scottish Prince, Gold Coast
Gary Cobb This is Chromodoris splendida the most common species in southeast Queensland Australia
Patrik GoodChromodoris splendida; Old Woman Island, Mooloolaba QLD, Australia; 24/10/2011; size 30mm; depth 8 metres; 22 degrees water temperature; 5 metres visibility. Thought I had published it here on Valentines day 2012 when I dedicated the picture to my girlfriend. A sweety isn't it?
Patrik Good Thordisa sp.? Found at Gold Coast Seaway, Australia, 28/8/2012, size 23mm, depth 6 metres, water temperature about 20 degrees. This guy looks like a soft coral. It is quite dark purpleish to brown. The gills extend nicely with a white crisp. The rhinopores are white tipped too and are situated on like a podestal that is creamy white. The whole body is covered in these interesting bumps that end like corals. The underside has two layers and is brown. If anyone can help with a proper ID, that would be nice. This is most probably a new species for the Seaway. I also found Chromodoris splendida, a common species around here but never documented in the Seaway. The Seaway is a must dive for nudilovers at the moment with also lots of Goniobranchus reticulatus and Dendrodoris denisoni around.
Patrik Good Seems so easy to ID but it is not for me. Anyone an idea? Gary Cobb, is it a keeper?
Patrik Good ok, ok, guys, will collect the mitochondrial DNA. Waiting for an ID is always a sign that the nudi is either considered ugly, not interesting, not photographed well enough, too difficult to ID or a combination of those.
Gary Cobb Steady there! I have been on assignment. This critter is the same as I found and Richard ID'd it as a juvenile Atagema ornata (Ehrenberg, 1831)
Gary Cobb And for your information I think the critter is beautiful with a lovely texture!
Gary Cobb Patrik if you need a FAST ID email me!
Gary Cobb This species is very close to Atagema albata (Burn, 1962)
Patrik Good Thanks, Gary. I was considering Atagema too but couldn't find any matching pictures on the net. There is certainly no white marking on the back. This critter has been almost driving me crazy as I am trying to get a decent picture. It is not small but very difficult to get a good shot. Have a few dozen pictures now.
Bernard Picton The gills certainly have an Atagema look, but those processes are amazing! Nice find Patrik.
Gary Cobb Good luck son.
Patrik Good Thanks, Bernard. Am happy with Atagema. The gills are beautiful, remind me of a white crown and the processes look like part of a coral. Had to doublecheck if they are retractable or some other growth but they are definitely part of the body. The lower part of the rhinophores are see through by the way and the dark bits have bright dots on them too. Happy to upload more pictures if anybody fancies.
Patrik Good Oh, another interesting observation from all the time I spent with it when photographing it. The critter seems to have no sense for light. However, it is very sensitive to movement. The rhinophores retract instantly when disturbed only slightly. The critter can curl into a ball. It doesn't seem to be active in the morning.
Patrik Good It has been IDed as Thordisa sp. and according to M. Miller it will obviously be named at some stage as Terry Gosliner has got a sample in his collection already. Here is the BOW link
http://slugsite.us/bow2007/nudwk599.htm
Blogie Robillo You're right, it does look like coral, like Galaxea sp.
Patrik GoodChromodoris splendida, quite a common nudibranch but this is a new species for the Gold Coast Seaway collection. 28/8/2012, size 30mm, depth 2 metres, temperature about 20 C degrees.
Patrik Good Canon G12 in Patima housing (wide port), 1x strobe, 1xSola 600, i-das 5x 67mm achromatic wet lens, f7.1, 1/60sec., Iso 100. Cropped picture of a Chromodoris splendida taken at Old Woman Island, Mooloolaba QLD, Australia a few months ago. I should probably have worked this object a bit more but at that time underwater photography for me was not an art, not even a skill, rather a hassle and a blackbox with only the goal to document. Seeing something unfortunately means missing other things and it is in us to decide what aspects we want to see and which ones are worth while communicating to whom. This group made me want to see and explore different angles and aspects. Thought my first post could be for Valentines day for all the (nudi/macro) lovers out there. If there is a next time the heart will be the right way around and at the right spot.
Deb Aston Ah shucks what a romantic u r nice pic
Patrik Good Thank you all. Glad the photo reached a few hearts :-)
Jason Blackwell come on Pat, you could have reversed the image in photoshop just for today
Patrik Good Technical diver's integrity, J: no cheating, no shortcuts :-)
Daniela Balint sweeeet! a Valentine nudi:)))
Ken Thongpila Well Done Patrik. Good on you Mr.Technical diver and Macro Photographer :-) Very cute heart shot indeed...
Patrik Good Thanks guys. @Ken: LOL, I didn't mean to put myself out there as a competent Tech diver or - as a matter of fact - a competent Macro photographer. J is Mr. Top of the Range Tech and Rebreather instructor. Maybe I could strive for Technical Macro Photographer one day :-)
Patrik Good Meeting of the beauty and the beast. Goniobranchus cf. reticulatus, 10/10/2011, 19:02 hrs, Gold Coast Seaway, size about 40mm, depth 3 metres. On the bottom of the picture a bit to the right side there is another branch (might be a bubble shell or a pleurobranchus of some sort) size about 15mm. Can anyone help with ID, please? It will be branch No. 18 in my Gold Coast Seaway Collection that is getting shape at the moment.
Blogie Robillo Very interesting little fella!
Gary Cobb Goniobranchus cf. reticulatus
Patrik Good Thank you, guys. Well, this picture seems to be a bit of a taxonomic challenge. One critter is lacking an ID as of yet and the other one's name should obviously be revised. To me, it doesn't make sense to change the parent species name but not the derived sp. individuals'. I mean how can I call it Chromodoris sp. when it is so similar (and supposedly closely related) to Goniobranchus tinctorius or Goniobranchus reticulatus. Are there any grave taxonomic reasons speaking against me calling it Goniobranchus sp. Sizes by the way are more like 50mm and 25mm (or 35mm - if what we can barely see is the critter's tail).
Bernard Picton Patrik, I think it's fairly clear that the name Chromodoris will now be used only for the longitudinally blue/black striped species, so I'd use Goniobranchus for others if appropriate. There is so much mimicry, though, that it will be a while before the generic names for all the species are certain.
Patrik Good Interesting, Bernard Picton, thank you. (My thoughts were based on a post with the suggestion that I should call the critter Chromodoris sp. by the way). So, you reckon, the species Chromodoris splendida that is endemic to Australia should or will be Goniobranchus splendidus? We still have to wait for its reclassification, don't we?
Gary Cobb I dont think so!
Bernard Picton Johnson & Gosliner say, for Goniobranchus "This clade includes all of the Indo-Pacific species of Chromodoris that are not part of the black-lined, planar egg mass clade, except Chromodoris alternata and Chromodoris ambiguus." They clearly intend us to call all these species Goniobranchus, though of course when they do get DNA sequenced the situation may get more complicated. The trouble with generic names is that they are a hypothesis (about how things are related), so new evidence can result in name changes.
Gary Cobb Yes it is quite confusing Bernard. Unfinished business.
Gary Cobb Is the speculation by the authors proven? I don't think so.
Bernard Picton The trouble with the Linnaean system of naming species is that it's always been unfinished business. With DNA sequence data we are getting closer to a true understanding of relationships, but that means changing the names every so often. Best to remember the specific part, but not get too hung up on the Generic part. Terry Gosliner put almost all the Flabellinidae into a single genus many years back, but there will certainly be several once they get sequenced. Then we'll have to dig Coryphella out again.
Erwin Koehler Dayrat & Gosliner, 2005 suggested using the family name,
so this one would be Chromodorididae sp.
Erwin Koehler I like to come back to the small one: how does
Umbraculum umbraculum look like in your region?
Patrik Good Thanks Erwin Koehler, interesting thoughts. The small critter seems to have a hat like Umbraculum umbraculum. But the distinctive white dots on the mantle, the skin pattern and size remind me more of Pleurobranchaea maculata. What are your thoughts on calling it Pleurobranchaea cf. maculata? Often we find branchs that are crawling out or are stuck halfway in the substrate, so the 'hat' might be just that. But am happy about any suggestions.
Patrik Good Erwin, was Dayrat & Gosliner, 2005 widely accepted in the scientific community and adopted by 'amateur' branchers? I reckon this practice has pros and cons. Not sure yet, wether I am going to implement that or how.
Bernard Picton In relation to this change of names for many Chromodorididae, I'm not sure if you are all aware of the WORMS database.
It is often still flawed, but always worth checking if you want to try and track down original descriptions of species. I see that Phillippe Bouchet of the MNHN in Paris has changed the generic names for most of the Chromodorididae in line with Johnson and Gosliner. Philippe is a top authority, Gosliner too. So If they are both adopting it we all should do as well.
http://www.marinespecies.org
Patrik Good Erwin Koehler, I uploaded a picture of Umbraculum umbraculum. Bernard Picton, I used to check out WoRMS. The database seemed not to be maintained at all any more and I didn't get a reply to an email I wrote a few month back. WoRMS didn't necessarily leave the impression of being the authority that the world of taxonomy is desperately in need of. Anyhow, will check it out again and thanks for the suggestion.
Erwin Koehler Yes, I think the small one looks like Pleurobranchaea maculata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)
Ashley Missen Hi Everyone Please Remember to send you stats and Photos to data@nudibase.com as well your post here - this way I can add them to the Database and then you can help everyone make it easier to find nudis in your area - this is important as It is the only way we can know what species are where and how many of them - Cheers and Thanks Ash
Ashley Missen Regular stats are great
Frank Wehner Will send the data tonight. ;-)
Ken Thongpila I will send Nelson Bay nudi hunts trip last week soon Ashley :-) Nothing special :-( no new species but good hunts....
Ashley Missen Thanks Ken Thongpila and Frank Wehner - I will keepading as fast as I can - Soon I will have a Data entry form on the Website
Patrik Good Ashley, I have got an issue with my stats. We normally got a few larger species that are almost epidemic at certain times in the dive sites around here (Chromodoris daphne, Ceratosoma tenue, used to be Hypselodoris obscura, Phyllidia's, Chromodoris splendida's, even Sagaminopteron ornatum etc. up north, Gymnodoris alba south). I normally photograph a few ones but then am losing interest as I am trying to find new nudi species and not researching a particular area thoroughly (this wouldn't be possible in our dive site due to environmental conditions anyhow). I know this sounds careless. We find so many different species here in one dive that it doesn't make sense and in my view it isn't feasible for me to count them all. So, if the data are for scientific purposes they won't be useable. Also, sometimes data from different divers in the same dive overlap (but often to a surprisingly low degree). Last night, I saw probably around 300 nudis but only 20 different species (hopefully 5 new ones for the dive site). I think most branchers go for new species and are less concerned about numbers. I am not sure if they share my issue and are overwhelmed with stats at times. So, question: how important are numbers? Should I resort to estimating or would you prefer having only numbers when they are accurate? As I am setting up my stats atm I'll probably have categories of 1, 2-4, 5-10, 20 to about 50, 50+ A similar issue I have got with their size. I normally estimate. We often find Ceratosoma tenue of various sizes. As they are very frequent the size data will be lost. By the way, is photographic evidence absolutely required? I reckon there are nudibranchers out there who don't have a camera available. My photos are sometimes just really bad. So, the question is if I should include those. I am pretty sure I am overwhelming you here, Ash. But I do it rather in the group. I am interested how other branchers are feeling about and handling their stats. And especially, how you want your stats.
Ashley Missen I am happy to get any data and est. on common species is ok as the regularity of the stats will this as the database is not a 100% scientific we can allow for some generalness my philosophy is some data is better than none. For example if someone sends in a photo with min data we can still say that there was at least 1 of that species at that site on that day. Hope this helps. Cheers Ash
Patrik Good Thanks, that helps. What's your preferred picture size, format?
Ashley Missen jpeg 1000 pixels on long side - Cheers and Thanks Ash
