Goniobranchus geminus, also known as the gem sea slug, is a species of very colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.Bouchet, P. (2012). Goniobranchus geminus. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2012-05-03
Taxonomic history Until 2012 this species was known as Chromodoris geminus but was moved to the genus Goniobranchus as a result of a molecular (DNA) study.Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479.
Description Goniobranchus geminus can reach a maximum size of 5 cm in length.Rudman, W.B., 1999 (January 22) Chromodoris geminus Rudman, 1987. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. It has four distinctive coloured lines around the mantle edge. Starting from a thin white outer line, then a light grayish line, followed by another white line and finally a bright golden yellow line.Gosliner, T.M., Behrens, D.W. & Valdés, Á. (2008) Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs and seaslugs. A field guide to the world's most diverse fauna. Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Washington, 426 pp. page(s): 220 The background coloration from the back is light brown to yellowish speckled with mauve ocelli circled with a white margin. The foot, clearer and with a white margin, also has ocelli. The rhinophores are yellow or purple and laminated, gills are white outlined with beige.Debelius, H. & Kuiter, R.H. (2007) Nudibranchs of the world. ConchBooks, Frankfurt, 360 pp. page(s): 164
Distribution and habitat This sea slug lives in the Indian Ocean from Kenya to Sri Lanka and in the Red Sea and has a predilection for the external slopes of coral reefs.
Similar species Goniobranchus kuniei (Pruvot-Fol, 1930). Goniobranchus leopardus (Rudman, 1987). Hypselodoris tryoni (Garrett, 1873). Goniobranchus tritos (Yonow, 1994).
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