2026 · Photo: Boaz Liebes
Glossodoris cincta
Girdled glossodoris
Philippines · Indo Pacific - South China Sea
- Size
- 30–50 mm · max 60 mm
- Native range
- Indo-West Pacific, from East Africa and the Red Sea to the western Pacific
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Description
A widespread Indo-West Pacific Glossodoris with a heavily folded, frilly mantle edge. Rudman recognised three regional colour forms (south-west Pacific, Philippines–Indonesia and East African). Like many chromodorids it can release defensive mucus when disturbed.
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/species/glossodoris-cf-cincta-phillipines-indo-pacific-south-china-sea/
Identification
Mottled brown body. The wavy, folded mantle edge and the foot edge carry concentric bands: in typical animals bluish-white on the outside, then black, then yellow on the inside; in Philippine–Indonesian animals the black and yellow merge into a dull khaki band, and East African animals lack the bluish-white outer band. Rhinophores and gills dark.
Similar species
Glossodoris rufomarginata has an orange-brown speckled mantle with an orange-brown border and a broad white submarginal band, without the blue/black/yellow bands.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Coral and rocky reefs.
Food
Sponges; like other Glossodoris, it feeds on keratose (horny) sponges.