Chromodoris lochi, common name Loch's chromodoris, or Loch's chromodoris slug, is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.
Distribution This species is found in the tropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific region and is known to range from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines to Fiji and the northern coast of Australia.Rudman, 1982. Chromodoris lochi Sea Slug Forum, accessed 14 October 2013.
Description Chromodoris lochi is blue or blueish-white with a white margin and typically dark or black lines running down the mantle and the foot, described by William Rudman in 1982. On the mantle, a continuous line runs around the border passing on the outside of the rhinophore and a second median one can be discontinuous. Individuals can reach at least 4 cm in length.Chromodoris lochi Sous les Mers, accessed 2019-01-25. There is some variation between individuals in this species, and the gills (retractile) and rhinophores (contractile) range in colour from a translucent straw-color, through to pink and light orange.Debelius, Helmut, 2001, Nudibranchs and Sea Snails: Indo-Pacific Field Guide, IKAN - Unterwasserarchiv, Frankfurt, Germany.P.L. Beesley, G.J.B. Ross, A. Wells, Mollusca - The southern synthesis, vol.5, CSIRO, 1998,David Behrens, Nudibranch behaviour, New World Publication INC., 2005, Gary Cobb & Richard Willan, Undersea jewels - a colour guide to nudibranchs, Australian Biological Resources Study, 2006, This species is very similar in appearance to Chromodoris willani, and Chromodoris dianae and can be difficult to tell apart. Its most distinguishing feature is the uniform colouring of the mantle and the lack of white specks which are present in some of the other species. A recent study showed that more than one species is currently confused amongst Chromodoris lochi.Layton, K. K.; Gosliner, T. M.; Wilson, N. G. (2018). Flexible colour patterns obscure identification and mimicry in Indo-Pacific Chromodoris nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Chromodorididae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 124: 27-36.
(Description of Chromodoris boucheti) Chromodoris boucheti can reach a length of 30–50 mm. The upper surface of the body is bluish white, with longitudinal black lines and yellow rhinophores. The lower half of the gills is white, the upper half is yellow. Moreover, this species shows characteristic black markings running up from the base on the inside and outside edge of its gills. The inner black marking is quite pronounced. It is similar in colour pattern to Chromodoris elisabethina and Chromodoris lochi.
Habitat This species can be found on the coral reefs to depths of 35 meters.
Ecology Chromodoris lochi, like many other dorid nudibranchs, feeds on sponges. It has been reported to eat Cacospongia mycofijiensis and Semitaspongia, both in the family Thorectidae.Rudman W.B. & Bergquist, P.R., 2007. "A review of feeding specificity in the sponge-feeding Chromodorididae (Nudibranchia: Mollusca). Molluscan Research 27(2): 60–88.
References
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.
External links