ZSI names a newly discovered head-shield sea slug after President Droupadi Murmu

Melanochlamys droupadi was named in a scientific paper published by ZSI researchers Prasad Chandra Tudu, Sheikh Sajan, Smrutirekha Acharya, and Anil Mohapatra

A photograph of Melanochlamys droupadi, a head-shield sea slug with ruby red spot. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Zoological Survey of India named a new marine species of head-shield sea slug with ruby red spot which was discovered from West Bengal and Odisha coast after President of India Droupadi Murmu.

This species belonging to Melanochlamys genus was discovered from Digha of West Bengal coast and Udaipur of Odisha coast. The new species of head-shield sea slug, which is found nowhere in the world, is named as Melanochlamys droupadi.

Species of the genus Melanochlamys are characterised morphologically by a short, blunt and cylindrical body and a smooth dorsal surface with two dorsal equal or unequal shields, named the anterior cephalic and posterior shield

In a statement, Dhriti Banerjee, ZSI director, said, “The species was confirmed by examination of morphological, anatomical and molecular characteristics. It is a small invertebrate with a maximum length up to 7 mm, brownish black in colour with a ruby red spot in the hind end, shell inside the body, hermaphrodite, normally crawling on the intertidal zone, which left the crawl mark behind them in the sandy beaches.”

“Their reproduction apparently occurs between November and January. The locality was designated as Hospital Ghat, Old Digha, which just 50 metre away from Marine Aquarium Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha. The type specimens were deposited in Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Digha and Estuarine Biology and Regional Centre, Gopalpur,” she said.

According to ZSI, species of this group are generally distributed in temperate regions of the Indo-Pacific Oceanic realm but three species are truly tropical distributed, Melanochlamys papillata from the Gulf of Thailand, Melanochlamys bengalensis from West Bengal and Odisha coast and the present species.

A scientific paper published by ZSI researchers Prasad Chandra Tudu, Sheikh Sajan, Smrutirekha Acharya and Anil Mohapatra says live Melanochlamys droupadi animals continuously secrete transparent mucus to form a sheath that prevents sand grains from entering parapodial space. It crawls beneath smooth sand to form a moving capsule where the body is rarely visible, the paper said.