Chelidonura livida Yonow, 1994

Nithyanandan, Manickam, Al-Kandari, Manal & Mantha, Gopikrishna, 2021, New records of nudibranchs and a cephalaspid from Kuwait, northwestern Arabian Gulf (Mollusca, Heterobranchia), ZooKeys 1048, pp. 91-107 : 91

Chelidonura livida Yonow, 1994

Figure 2

Aglaja cyanea (nigra): Engel and van Eeken 1962 (part): 17, E55/342 (Red Sea).

Chelidonura africana : Yonow 1990: 289, pl. 4 (Red Sea; misidentification).

Chelidonura livida Yonow, 1994a: 141-147, Fig. 1 (Eilat, Red Sea): Yonow 2008: 78-79, includes five figures (Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea).

Photographic record.

SAASC Al-Khiran, 13 June 2012, one individual photographed at 3 m depth in sandy substrate, R. Dinesh Kumar.

Description.

The individual has a black body colour, prominent electric blue spots scattered over the dorsum, head, and parapodia (Fig. 2 ). White flecks interspersed with electric blue spots are found on the head and along the edges of the parapodia. The caudal flaps are unequal with the left longer than the right, and with an electric blue spot at the base of the left caudal flap (see Fig. 2 ). The blue spots on the anterior portion of the propodium form a coalescent line which is partly visible in this individual (Fig. 2 ).

Distribution.

Israel ( Yonow 1994a, 2008), Abu Dhabi ( Hardy 2001), Mayotte Island (http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_cheli_livida.htm), Tanzania and Mozambique ( Gosliner et al. 2008; Tibiriçá and Malaquias 2017), and Kuwait (this study).

Remarks.

Yonow (1994a) described Ch. livida from Eilat, Israel, in the north-eastern Red Sea. In Ch. livida , both sides of the mouth bear whitish or yellowish sensory bristles which is visible in the frontal view or if viewed from above ( Yonow 1994a); however, it is not clearly visible in the photograph of the individual presented in this study due to the angle at which it was photographed (Fig. 2 ). The head shield has two short processes on its lateral side, which is bit longer in the left compared to the right side and tubular when the animal is in relaxed state ( Yonow 1994a). This was clearly observed in the individual recorded in this study (Fig. 2 ). The individual recorded from Mozambique ( Tibiriçá and Malaquias 2017: fig. 2f) has prominent electric blue rings that are scattered over the dorsum and parapodial margin. The caudal flaps are rather thin, the right one short and the left one elongated with a prominent electric blue spot. However, the individual observed in this study has short and thick caudal flap with a thin, pointed tip and a blue spot at its base (Fig. 2 ). The species possesses a highly reduced internal shell. This is a new record to both Kuwait and the APG, this record denoting a range extension into the northern APG from its type locality in the Red Sea.

Figures

Figure 1. Map showing heterobranch record sites in Kuwait.

Figure 2. Chelidonura livida Yonow, 1994. Photograph R. Dinesh Kumar.