The Chocolate Bar Nudibranch

After many years of observing and photographing shell-less marine gastropods (nudibranchs) underwater, I have finally described a species of my own. The occurrence of this species had been known for some time, but it had not been formally described. Few taxonomic workers wanted to touch this one. So here we are:

Chocolate bar nudibranch
Pseudochromodoris faecalis
Molluska, Gastropoda
Uniform light to dark brown
Length 10 – 25 centimeters
Rhinopores and gills not externally visible
Pelagic; often found floating on the surface; circumtropical, abundant in shallow bays near human settlements; Seasonal: increasingly abundant during the tourist season.

Not Pseudochromodoris faecalis. This is an individual of Nembrotha kybayana: