OKINAWAN
OPISTHOBRANCH OF THE WEEK

Opisthobranch of the Week Data

Taxonomy:

        Hypselodoris bullocki is one of the more strikingly attractive chromodorids occasionally seen on Okinawa. The animal was originally placed into the Genus Chromodoris by Collingwood but Rudman (1995) later transferred the animal to Hypselodoris.

        Other than Noumea romeri, which looks similar to some color phases of H. bullocki as juveniles, there are no other described Okinawan dorids here which are apt to be confused with H. bullocki; the white, cream, or light pink-colored foot and notum (the notum is emarginated with a fine white line) in conjunction with the variably colored (most often orange on Okinawa specimens) rhinophores and gills give this animal immediate recognition status.

        Hypselodoris bullocki is considered to be uncommon on Okinawa; the initial collection was made on 3 July, 1986 and the total collected animals number sixteen. Another half-dozen or so animals have been photographed but not collected.

        The featured animal is one of twelve described species of Hypselodoris found in Okinawan waters. The twelve species identified to date (February, 2005) are:

Literature Cited: