The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has named a new marine species of head-shield sea slug with ruby red spot 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 else in the world, has been named Melanochlamys droupadi.
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.