The Yellow-Spotted Doris is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the genus Chromodoris, family Chromodorididae, superfamily Doridoidea, order Nudibranchia, class Gastropoda, phylum Mollusca and kingdom Animalia.
This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, and on the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa from the Bay of Biscay to Cape Verde and west as far as the Azores.
Chromodoris luteorosea is a chromodorid nudibranch which grows to a maximum length of 55 mm. It is easy to identify by its colours. The body’s pale purple mantle is edged with a bright yellow line, with intense yellow or whitish points, circular or oval and irregularly distributed over the surface. These conspicuous points are surrounded by a white ring.
The rhinophores measure 6 mm in length and have 15 lamellae at the top. They are violet or reddish with a white pigmentation. The gills are in the back, surrounding the anus, and are formed by 9 leafy branches, of the same colour as the rhinophores.
Chromodoris luteorosea lives on the sponge Spongionella pulchella or Aplysilla rosea from 5 m to 60 m deep, in the sublittoral zone.
This photo was taken at a depth of 40m at Għasri Point on Gozo’s north coast.
Photo taken by Brian Azzopardi
