Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 149, May 2017, pp. 31-47 | Page 2

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Keywords: Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Onchidorididae, Diaphorodoris olakhalafi,
New Species, Nudibranch, Dorid Nudibranch, Sea Slug, Khorfakkan White Dorid
Nudibranch, Ola Khalaf’s Nudibranch, Sea of Khorfakkan, Emirate of Sharjah,
Khorfakkan, Fujairah, Musandam, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Gulf of
Oman, Arab Sea, Indian Ocean, Near East, Middle East.
Introduction:
On Friday 31.03.2017, my wife the PADI Dive Instructor Ola Mostafa Khalaf managed
to shoot a photo of an unknown white Nudibranch from the Car Cemetery Sea Ground,
19 meter deep in the Sea of Khorfakkan, Gulf of Oman, Arab Sea, Indian Ocean. This
photo (page 35) triggered our search for its identification. We examined zoological
reference books and the internet searching for its identity. We found very few photos on
the internet without species identification. This species was not scientifically described
and was not named.
The closest genus for our new species was Diaphorodoris. We compared between
different Diaphorodoris species living in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic region like:
Diaphorodoris luteocincta M. Sars, 1870; Diaphorodoris mitsuii Baba, 1938; Diaphorodoris
lirulatocauda Millen, 1985; Diaphorodoris papillata Portmann & Sandmeier, 1960 and
Diaphorodoris alba Portmann & Sandmeier, 1960.
The new species: Ola Khalaf‟s Nudibranch (Diaphorodoris olakhalafi Khalaf, 2017) from the car
cemetery ground in Khorfakkan Sea, in a depth of 15 meter, and water temperature of 23
Celsius. Nudibranch size 5 mm. Photo by Gordon T. Smith (Searcaigh). 03 February 2012.
http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=963
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 149 – May 2017