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This species has been observed on Reunion, Mayotte and Madagascar Islands

Order : Nudibranchia Suborder : Euctenidiacea Superfamily : Doridoidea Family : Chromodorididae Distribution : Western Indian Ocean. Maximal size : 40 mm Abundance : (Run) Seldom if ever... (May) Frequently on th efore reef zone Species characteristics : The mantle is a pale watery blue with a thin white border, with a thick black line running around the mantle just outside the rhinophores and back behind the gills and another median black line running just from just in front of the rhinophores back to just in front of the gills.     The rhinophores have a bluish white stalk and a yellow club    Gills : lower half white, upper half yellow, a black line runs from the base up both the inside and outside edge of each gill, for a varying distance.    A thin black line forms an irregular U around the gill pocket.
	Showing species characteristics...	Photo Drivas Réunion

See more about : Sightening and mating periods
   See more about : Chromodoris boucheti variability in Southwest Indian ocean

Remarks :

Identification confirmed by Bill Rudman

Bibliographic data :

The side of the body and the foot is watery blue with a thin white border to the foot as on the mantle.There are also two black lines along the side of the body. The upper lines joins anteriorly above the head, and posteriorly under the mantle The lower lines starts just behind the head and runs back to the posterior end of the foot     Some specimens have yellow ornamentations around the mantle edge.     A thin black line forms an irregular U around the gill pocket     The gills (5 to 7) are simple and arranged in a horseshoe open posteriorly     Some animal has an extra line of black spots around the mantle margin.    Holotype. Mayotte, Comoro Is, Northern entrance to Longoni Pass, 15m, March 1977. (18mm long preserved)

   Very similar in colour to Chromodoris lochi and Chromodoris willani in having a bluish white body with longitudinal black lines, and pale gills and rhinophores. The three species can be distinguished externally as follows:

	Chromodoris boucheti	Chromodoris willani	Chromodoris lochi
Mantle shape	Elongate oval		Spatulate
Black lines particularity	There is a thin black line forming an irregular U around the gills		The median black, line can be reduced to a short anterior and posterior sections
Rhinophores	The rhinophores are yellow.	The rhinophores are translucent clear or bluish with white spotting.	The rhinophores are straw-coloured or pale orange
Gills	The basal half of the gills are white and the upper half yellow. There is also a black line running up the basal half of the two sides of the rachis The gills for a horseshoe open posteriroly.	The gills are translucent grey with white spotting. The gills form a circle held vertical.	The gills are straw-coloured or pale orange The gills for a horseshoe open posteriroly.

References :

Bill Rudman Seaslug site : Sea Slug Forum : Chromodoris boucheti
   Nudipixel Chromodoris boucheti

Publications :

Rudman, W.B. (1982) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Chromodoris quadricolor, C. lineolata and Hypselodoris nigrolineata colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 76: 183-241.

Other photos of Chromodoris boucheti :

Marina Poddubetskaia "Passe en S" buoy n° 8", Mayotte, 16 m, 8 November 2003, size : 35 mm The rhinophores have a bluish white stalk and a yellow club    Gills : lower half white, upper half yellow, a black line runs from the base up both the inside and outside edge of each gill, for a varying distance. The gills (5 to 7) are simple and arranged in a horseshoe open posteriorly

Marina Poddubetskaia "Passe en S" buoy n° 8", Mayotte, 16 m, 8 November 2003, size : 30 mm A thin black line forms an irregular U around the gill pocket

Florence Trentin Bandrélé, Mayotte, 5 August 2006 This specimen has yellow ornamentations around the mantle edge. The thin black line which forms an irregular U around the gill pocket is broken posteriorly The median black line running just from just in front of the rhinophores back to just in front of the gills is bifurcated.

Florence Trentin Bandrélé, Mayotte, 5 August 2006 A specimen with a pair of extra longitudinal black line

Olivier Le Bris Mayotte, 4 December 2008 A abnormal specimen with a transversal groove before the gills

Freddy Fuentes and Nathalie Geffriaud Mayotte, 25 May 2006 The side of the body and the foot is watery blue with a thin white border to the foot as on the mantle. There are also two black lines (a) along the side of the body. The oral tentacle are tipped with yellow (b).

See more about : Chromodoris boucheti variability in Southwest Indian ocean

 Mayotte, Chromodoris boucheti with a short U black line, at Passe en S, by Matthias Deuss

Mayotte, foot side of Chromodoris boucheti, at Passe en S, by Florence Trentin 

Mayotte, Chromodoris boucheti with yellow tipped oral tentacle, by Sylvain Le Bris 

Mayotte, Chromodoris boucheti, at Passe en S, by Matthias Deuss 

Mayotte, Chromodoris boucheti with an broken median black line, at Passe en S, by Matthias Deuss  

Mayotte, two differents pattern of Chromodoris boucheti, by Freddy Fuentes and Nathalie Geffriaud 

Mayotte, Chromodoris boucheti with a medium U black line, at Passe en S, by Matthias Deuss

Mayotte, two Chromodoris boucheti beside Eudistoma sp, at Passe Sada, by Matthias Deuss

Madagascar, Chromodoris boucheti, at Nosy Bé, by Alain-Benoît Rassat