Diamonds are a Chromodoris willani’s Best Friend

These cheery little blue nudibranchs are examples of the species Chromodoris willani which are named after the renowned nudibranch taxonomist Dr. Richard C. Willan. I wonder what his business cards look like…

Individuals in this species can range in color from dark blue to a translucent white. All have black stripes with the center-most stripe typically being non-continuous. They are, on average, 14mm in length (suuuups tiny)!

The most distinguishing external feature are the white spots or specks on both the gills and the rhinophores. It almost looks as if they are encrusted in thousands of sparkling diamonds!! These, much like the Blue Dragon Nudibranch, are some of the most spectacular nudibranchs found in the oceans.