Record of the sea slug, Kalinga ornata Alder & Hancock, 1864 from the inshore waters of Bay of Bengal along Chennai coast

Abstract

Sea slugs were caught in the trawl net operated off north Chennai at a depth of around 100-150 m during early hours of 24 June 2011. The specimens were classified and identified as Kalinga ornata and deposited in the Marine Biodiversity Museum of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi (Accession code: DB. 40.1.1.). Although sea slugs have been found in these waters, there are limited studies on identification to the species level. Kalinga ornata was reported in India during 1936 from Kolkata and further there are no published reports on occurrence of of this species along the east coast of India.