Doriopsilla albopunctata

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]

Doriopsilla albopunctata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Heterobranchia
Order:	Nudibranchia
Suborder:	Doridina
Superfamily:	Phyllidioidea
Family:	Dendrodorididae
Genus:	Doriopsilla
Species:	D. albopunctata
Binomial name
Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863)

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. The new beachcomber's guide to the Pacific Northwest : completely revised and expanded 2019 (2019 [edition] ed.). 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). [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

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