Ceratosoma miamirana (Bergh, 1875)

Yonow, Nathalie, 2012, Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 197, pp. 1-130 : 25

Ceratosoma miamirana (Bergh, 1875) Plate 32

Fracassa tuberculosa Eliot, 1903b: 371 (Zanzibar).

Orodoris miamirana . - Vayssière 1912: 25, pl. 5 figs. 71-77, pl. 6 figs. 87, 88 (Djibouti, Gulf of Aden); Yonow 2008: 207 (Red Sea).

Ceratosoma miamirana . - Valdés and Gosliner 1999: 37, figs. 1D, 4, 5 (Japan, Philippines, Papua New Guinea); Debelius and Kuiter 2007: 103 (Maldives).

Material.

Zanzibar: 36 × 34 mm pres., in Sargassum off reef crest, Matemwe Lagoon, 01 March 1995, leg. MD Richmond (examined 1995: dorsum cream with rusty/orange-brown patches and pigment in creases, knobbly; rhinophores very close together, located far anteriorly; gills located far posteriorly, pocket with six lappets; ventrally with bright rusty ‘rings’ of pigment on hyponotum) (examined 1998: no pigment left except faint marks in creases and tucked-in gills; rings still bright on hyponotum). - Tanzania: photograph of two individuals, Mafia Island, shallow water, 31 December 2003 and 16 October 2005, A de Villiers. - Maldives: 65 mm (47 × 44 mm preserved, MDV/AB/96/19), 13 m depth, Yacht Tila, South Malé Atoll, 09 May 1996 (examined 1998: very well extended, very soft, completely bleached: no marks or colour left; morphology of foot, oral tentacles, and dorsum as above), leg. RC Anderson & SG Buttress. - La Réunion: photographs of several individuals http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm.

Description/Distribution.

Recognised by its oval shape with scalloped margin, and blurred green, beige, and blue colour pattern. Ventrally, green reticulations and ocelli located in junction between foot and mantle are distinctive. Widespread if infrequently recorded in the tropical Indo-West Pacific.