Doriopsilla albopunctata

Doriopsilla albopunctata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Superfamily: Phyllidioidea
Family: Dendrodorididae
Genus: Doriopsilla
Species:
D. albopunctata
Binomial name
Doriopsilla albopunctata
(Cooper, 1863)

Doriopsilla albopunctata, the white-spotted sea goddess, is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colorful sea slug, in the family Dendrodorididae.[1][2] It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from Mendocino County, California south, possibly to Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.[3]

There are five other species that are quite similar to Doriopsilla albopunctata and can be confused with it: Doriopsilla bertschi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla davebehrensi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla fulva (MacFarland, 1905), Doriopsilla gemela (Gosliner, Schaefer & Millen, 1999), and Baptodoris mimetica (Gosliner, 1991).[3]

Distribution

This species is found from Mendocino to San Diego, California and possibly on the Pacific coast of Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.[3]

Description

This nudibranch can grow as large as 60 mm (2+1⁄2 inches). It can be yellow or orange or brown, but always with very small opaque white dots. The dots are on the tips of raised tubercles and in circles around the tubercles.[3] The rhinophores on the head end are yellow or orange-yellow in color, and the gills (the rosette at the back) are white or pale yellow.[4]

Diet

The food of Doriopsilla albopunctata needs to be clarified in the light of newly discovered species and reports may be of related species.[3] It has been reported to eat an orange sponge at Bahía de los Ángeles but this is possibly a reference to Doriopsilla bertschi.[5] It has also been reported to eat Cliona californiana, the yellow boring sponge.[6]

References

  1. ^ Rosenberg, G.; Bouchet, P. (2015). Doriopsilla albopunctata (J. G. Cooper, 1863). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-12-13.
  2. ^ Sept, J. Duane (13 April 2019). The new beachcomber's guide to the Pacific Northwest : completely revised and expanded 2019 (2019 [edition] ed.). Harbour. ISBN 9781550178579.
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoover C., Lindsay T., Goddard J.H.R. & Valdés A. (2015). Seeing double: pseudocryptic diversity in the Doriopsilla albopunctata–Doriopsilla gemela species complex of the north-eastern Pacific. Zoologica Scripta. 44: 612-631.
  4. ^ Rudman, W.B., 2001 (August 5) Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  5. ^ Bertsch, H., (2000) Doriopsilla albopunctata In: Miller, M. The Slug Site, accessed 2016-12-14.
  6. ^ Cowles, Dave. "Cliona californiana (de Laubenfels, 1932)". Invertebrates of the Salish Sea. Walla Walla University. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doriopsilla albopunctata.
  • Behrens D. W. (1980) Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington