This Gymnodoris was moderately common at Enewetak Atoll with more than 50 specimens found. It is less common but still present at Kwajalein. Most were seen on lagoon reefs and pinnacles, under rocks during the day or out crawling in the open at night. Thirty measured specimens ranged from 6 to 20mm in length. Larger than about 12mm long (the two bottom photos), they seem to become more high-sided rather than tubular and the gills seem to expand. The radula of both "forms" is very similar, so we assume they are all the same species. We long called these Gymnodoris plebeia but they don't really seem to match that species and Gosliner et al (2008) have them as an unidentified Gymnodoris sp. 2. We also have them from Hawaii.
The innards clearly show through the mostly transparent skin.
The specimen below just finished laying down a mass or orange eggs.
The specimens below were all relative large for the species, between 12 and 20mm.
The two photos below show one of four specimens found separately over one weekend in August 2011 in a lagoon Halimeda patch at a depth of about 8m. These were the first specimens we had seen in a couple of years.
Created 1 January 2007
Updated 26 August 2011