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Doriopsilla albopunctata

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Species of gastropod

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. It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from Mendocino County, California south, possibly to Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.

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).

Distribution

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

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. 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.

Diet

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

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  ed.). Harbour. ISBN 9781550178579.
  3. ^ 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). 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

  • Behrens D. W. (1980) Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington
Taxon identifiers
Doriopsilla albopunctata
Doris albopunctata
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