Chromodoris colemani Rudman, 1982

Relatively rare in the Marshall Islands, this species is most often found on lagoon pinnacles but can live along interisland reefs as well. We have found maybe a dozen specimens, three at Utirik Atoll and the rest at Kwajalein. Several at Kwajalein were under one of my "nudibranch collectors." These are sheets of corrugated aluminum that have blown into the water during storms and been encrusted on the undersides with a good growth of sponges and other sessile organisms. These aluminum sheets seem to be favored by a number of sponge feeding chromodorids. Several months after a storm at Enewetak blew many of these sheets onto the shallow lagoon reefs, the nudibranch populations bloomed. Specimens of C. colemani in the Marshalls have ranged up to about 25mm in length.

The specimen below is one of three found at Utirik Atoll in the northern Marshall Islands.

The Kwajalein specimen below appeared to be feeding on the lilac-colored sponge.

Created 14 December 2005
Updated 28 November 2008