White with bold black lines and a broad orange margin, on red sponge in the Red Sea. One of the few chromodorids nameable from a photograph.
To about 7 cm, and one of the most photographed nudibranchs in the Red Sea: white with bold black longitudinal lines and a broad orange-red margin around the whole mantle, with orange rhinophores and gill plume. The pattern is consistent, which is unusual in this family, so it is one of the few chromodorids that can be named from a photograph without argument.
It feeds on red sponge and is found on and around it, which is where to search rather than on open reef. Like the rest of the group it stores the sponge’s toxins in its own tissue and the bold pattern advertises that — a fish that has tried one does not try another. It is a shallow-water animal, is out by day, and moves slowly enough that there is time to get the angle right.
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.
