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Dendronotus niveus is a species of sea slug, a dendronotid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dendronotidae.

Etymology

This species is named from the Latin niveus, meaning snowy white, which refers to the most common colour pattern of this species.

Distribution

This species was described from a specimen collected at 17 m depth at Velikaya Salma Strait, Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea, Russia. Numerous specimens from the White Sea and the Barents Sea to a maximum depth of 156 m are included in the material described.

Description

Dendronotus niveus has a translucent white, pinkish or beige body which is similar to Dendronotus dalli and white morphs of Dendronotus frondosus with which it has been confused in the past. It has opaque white pigment within the tips of the dorsal appendages and rhinophore sheaths which may disappear in adults. It is distinguished from other Dendronotus species by the branching of the dorsal appendages (cerata), the smooth median tooth of the radula in adults and molecular characters.

Diet

Dendronotus niveus feeding on Diphasia fallax (Johnston, 1847) were pink in colour but after feeding on Hydrallmania falcata (Linnaeus, 1758) and Sertularia mirabilis (Verrill, 1873) in the laboratory became milky white.

References

1. ^ Ekimova, I.; Korshunova, T.; Schepetov, D.; Neretina, T.; Sanamyan, N.; Martynov, A. (2015). Integrative systematics of northern and Arctic nudibranchs of the genus Dendronotus (Mollusca, Gastropoda), with descriptions of three new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 173(4): 841-886.
2. Gofas, S. (2015). Dendronotus niveus. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-01-31.

• Dendronotidae
• Gastropods described in 2015