Red-tipped Sea Goddess

SCIENTIFIC NAME:
 
Chromolaichma sedna

🇪🇸 Common name (ES): Diosa marina de puntos rojos

🇺🇸 Common name (EN): Red-tipped Sea Goddess

 

CLASSIFICATION

Phylum:

Mollusca

Class:

Gastropoda

Order:

Nudibranchia

Family:

Chromodorididae

Genus:

Chromolaichma

Species:

Chromolaichma sedna

DISTRIBUTION IN COSTA RICA

●  1 – Bat Islands
●  2 – Gulf of Papagayo
●  3 – Catalina Islands
●  4 – Osa Peninsula
●  5 – Golfo Dulce
●  6 – Cocos Island

 

DEPTH RANGE

General: To 30 m (98 ft)

Common: 5–20 m (16–66 ft)

    

 

HABITAT

🪨 Rocky intertidal areas

🪨 Rocky Reefs

🪸 Coral Reefs

🌿 Mangroves

HOW TO IDENTIFY IT

  • Maximum length: 6.3 cm (2.5 in).
  • Soft-bodied gastropod that loses its shell during the larval stage.
  • Retractile, feathery gills arranged around the anus.
  • Two horn-shaped sensory structures, called rhinophores, on the head.
  • No complex eyes, but photoreceptors that detect light and darkness.
  • Elongated, oval body with a long, pointed tail.
  • White body with red and yellow margins along the mantle and tail.

SIMILAR SPECIES

  • Chromolaichma dalli – the mantle margin is dark brown or black.

SIGHTING FREQUENCY

  • ●●○○○ Occasional

 

 

REPRODUCTION

  • Simultaneous hermaphrodites. The notes describe sexual reproduction through hypodermic insemination: the individual that penetrates the partner’s body wall takes the male role, while the other takes the female role.
  • Eggs are deposited in masses on the substrate.
  • They hatch into veliger larvae, which later develop into adults.

 

 

BEHAVIOR

  • It absorbs toxic chemical compounds and sharp spicules from its food.
  • Its red and yellow border serves as a warning to predators that it is toxic—a form of warning coloration known as aposematism.

 

 

DIET

  • 🧽 Spongivorous: feeds exclusively on sponges, including at least 17 different species.