We saw many of these in the Tulamben area, under rocks in the shallows or crawling about in the open at night. There is kind of a fine line between these and Carminodoris flammea and to a certain extent, even with Carminodoris armata. C. bifurcata is supposed to have a band of red brown nodules middorsally between the rhinophores and gills while those of C. flammea are more red. In some specimens of C. bifurcata the middorsal color can be faint. From our photos, it seems that overall the dorsal nodules of C. bifurcata are smaller and more crowded together than those of C. flammea or C. armata. However, these differences are all rather subtle and some specimens may be difficult to accurately place. There are reported differences in the internal anatomy, but that doesn't help those of us trying to identify from photos.
Those below have a much fainter central zone of darker pigment characteristic of this species. However, these were otherwise so similar to the ones above that we have a hard time accepting that they are different, so we will place them here for now.
Created 26 December 2012
Updated 15 December 2022