Glossodoris pallida ( Rueppell & Leuckart, 1830)

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 : 34-35

Glossodoris pallida ( Rueppell & Leuckart, 1830) Plate 48

Doris pallida Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830: 33, tab. 10, fig. 1 (Red Sea).

Glossodoris pallida . - Rudman 1984: 145, figs. 1, 18-20, 27 (Red Sea, Tanzania, Great Barrier Reef); Yonow 1989: 300 (Red Sea); Yonow 2000: 131 (Red Sea); Debelius and Kuiter 2007: 185 (Oman, Mozambique, Myanmar, Viet Nam); Yonow 2008: 191 (Red Sea).

Material.

Maldives: approx. 20 mm alive (11 × 5 mm pres.), Bathala Island, Ari Atoll, 11 m depth, night dive, 27 July 1995, leg. SG Buttress & RC Anderson. - Persian Gulf: photographs of two individuals, Dahwat ad Daffi, April 1992, and N of Abu Ali, 26 May 1992, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, F Krupp; photo of three individuals, Muscat, Oman, 01-12 April 2009, S Kahlbrock. - La Réunion: photos of several individuals 6-20 mm http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm. - Seychelles: photographs of one individual, Lilôt, NW Mahé, 1988-1989, P Kemp. - Sri Lanka: photographs of two individuals, Unawatuna, S of Galle, 03 January 2011, S Kahlbrock.

Description.

The preserved specimen is well relaxed: it is opaque white, and no markings remain; the digestive system is not visible through the skin. Twelve gills are extended: the rachis is flat on the outside and lamellae face inwards on the two other sides. In life, the lamellae can be seen to extend laterally. One photograph from Oman (S Kahlbrock, pers. comm.) depicts the individual beginning to lay an egg mass, a flat white ribbon laid on its edge.

Distribution.

This species appears to be present but rarely recorded in the western Indian Ocean: Rudman (1984) had one only specimen from Tanzania; the specimen above is a first record for the Maldives (Plate 48), and new photographic records are presented here from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Seychelles, La Réunion (http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm), and Sri Lanka.