''Goniodoris citrina'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

, a

dorid ''Doridacea'' is a taxonomic grouping of dorid nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.); Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdes A. & Warén A. 2005''Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families ...

nudibranch, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Goniodorididae Goniodorididae are a taxonomic family of sea slugs, specifically dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod molluscs in the order Opisthobranchia. Genera Genera in the family Goniodorididae include: * '' Ancula'' Lovén, 1846 * ''Goniodoris ''Goniod ...

Distribution

This species was first described from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was amongst a collection of specimens given to Alder and Hancock for description by Walter Elliot. Elliot describes the collection localities as follows: :“Waltair is a suburb of the town of

Vizagapatam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museum, ...

, the capital of a province of the same name, one of the

Northern Circars The Northern Circars (also spelt Sarkars) was a division of British India's Madras Presidency. It consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the Bay of Bengal from 15° 40′ to 20° 17′ north latitude, in the pr ...

. The coast south of Vizagapatam is flat and sandy, with a heavy surf, which is unfavourable to the existence of naked Mollusks, but the whole of the coast of Vizagapatam is rocky, and sometimes precipitous, abounding in bays filled with rock and shingle, amongst which the delicate forms of the creatures you have been describing find shelter. Immediately to the north of Waltair is one of these bays, called Lawson's Bay, in which a large proportion of the specimens were found; but I employed men to search along a more extended line, both north and south of the bay. Most of the species were taken between tide-marks, and only one or two in deep water."

Description

The original description reads: :Body oblong-ovate , broad in front and tapering to a point behind, lemon-coloured, with the processes tipped with purple-brown. Cloak largely developed, and produced at the sides into about seven rounded lobes reflected upwards and densely freckled with purple-brown; posteriorly the pallial margin appears to terminate in a well-produced point on each side, but an indistinct ridge converges from thence to a fringed keel tipped with purple-brown, which runs down to the tail: the rest of the cloak is pale lemon-yellow, darker towards the centre, where there is a slightly elevated ridge bearing obtuse points. Dorsal tentacles clavate and strongly laminated; the laminae and tips of a purple-brown colour. Head not much produced, very broad, with two shortish, flattened tentacular processes, somewhat pointed, and tipped with purple-brown. Branchial plumes five, large, tri-pinnate, yellow, marked on the under surface with purple-brown, closely surrounding the anus, the two posterior plumes rising from the roots of the lateral pair. Foot broad and ample, of an ovate form, truncated in front, and produced into a point behind. Length upwards of an inch. Tongue as in ''G. nodosa'', very minute; the sides of the spines are extremely minutely denticulated: no spinous collar was observed.

Ecology

''Goniodoris citrina'' probably feeds on bryozoans or colonial ascidians, but the diet is apparently not yet determined.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3773271 Goniodorididae Gastropods described in 1864