Cream with a brown patch and a bright orange rim, in three or four regional versions.
A dorid to about 5 cm, the centre of the mantle a large chocolate to purple-brown patch on a cream ground, surrounded by a white band and finished with a bright orange or yellow margin. The rhinophores and gill are the same brown as the central patch. The proportions of the brown patch vary regionally to the point where Indian Ocean and Pacific animals look like different species, and several described forms have been folded into and out of this name over the years.
Feeds on sponges. It is one of the models in a documented mimicry ring: the flatworm Pseudoceros imitatus and other unrelated animals carry the same cream-brown-orange pattern, and the resemblance is close enough that a photograph is often the only way to tell which one was in front of the camera — the flatworm has no gill plume and no rhinophores. Recorded from about 3 to 30 m on rubble and rock.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
