Risbecia pulchella
(Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828)
» If you find this species has been misidentified, please let us know
Identification is verified by Richard Willan, Nudi Pixel expert
Comment from Richard Willan: These individuals are definitely Risbecia pulchella without any doubt. The distinctions between this species and Risbecia ghardaqana are becoming fewer and fewer as time goes on, and probably Risbecia ghardaqana will be synonymised under Risbecia pulchella eventually.
Below is comment from Dr. Bill Rudman, go to Sea Slug Forum to read more information
Dear Kalani,
Have a look at Greg Brown's recent message [#20912] which has the most convincing photos of 'true' R. ghardaqana that I have seen. I am afraid your animals with purple smudges on the mantle, a large number of moving gills, and the front the mantle expanded into a wide flap are all characters of R. pulchella and absent in R. ghardaqana. Unfortunately some of the photos on the Forum are difficult to identify to either of these species but hopefully I now have most of the messages concerning then under the right species name. Now that we have Greg's photos as a standard, I am much more confident in saying that your animal is R. pulchella.
It's nice to see them doing their normal 'trailing' behaviour.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
| Location: | Phuket, Thailand |
| Photographer: | K. Kalani Patterson |
| Camera: | Canon PowerShot S80 › View EXIF properties |
| Taken on: | January 21, 2008 |
| Viewed: | 560 times |
| Posted: | 9 months ago |
| Updated: | 9 months ago |
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Other photos of Risbecia pulchella
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Opisthobranchia |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder: | Doridina |
| Family: | Chromodorididae |
| Species: | Risbecia pulchella |