The largest of the blue-and-black mimicry group, at up to 8 cm.
A chromodorid to about 8 cm, noticeably larger than the rest of the blue-and-black group. The mantle is white to pale blue crossed by broad black longitudinal bands, bordered by a band of bright orange and then by a fine white edge; the gill plume and rhinophores are orange. Size and the width of the black are what separate it from Chromodoris annae, which is smaller, a stronger cornflower blue, and marked with fine black lines rather than bands. C. elisabethina has a narrower orange edge and a plainer line pattern.
Older books give this animal as Chromodoris quadricolor. That is a Red Sea species, and Indo-Pacific records under the name belong here, which is worth knowing when working from a guidebook printed before the two were separated.
Feeds on sponges and holds the sponge’s defensive compounds in the mantle rim. It belongs to the mimicry ring that includes annae, willani, lochi, elisabethina and dianae, all of which advertise unpalatability with versions of the same blue-and-black signal. Common on rubble and rock from about 3 to 30 m, crawling in the open by day. The orange margin and the black bands sit a long way apart in exposure terms, and a strobe close enough to open up the black will usually blow out the orange, so the margin is the part to expose for.
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.
