Doto bella

Doto bella is a species of sea slug, a dendronotid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dotidae.

Doto bella
Right side view of Doto bella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Dendronotida
Superfamily:
Tritonioidea
Family:
Dotidae
Genus:
Doto
Species:
D. bella
Binomial name
Doto bella
Baba, 1938[1]

Distribution

This species was described from the Izu Peninsula, Japan. It is widely distributed on the Pacific Ocean coasts of Japan and the Japan Sea coasts. A species from Indonesia has previously been identified as Doto bella but is now thought to be an undescribed species.[2][3][4]

Description
Doto cf. bella from Indonesia

This dendronotid nudibranch is transparent white with a diffuse, sub-epidermal layer of black pigment which is faint in some specimens and very dense in others. The ceratal tubercles are slightly stalked with globular tips which have a large black spot which is partly obscured by white glands in the terminal tubercle. The digestive gland is usually yellow. The outer half of the rhinophores is black.[5]

Ecology

Doto bella has been photographed on a colony of a hydroid, probably in the family Aglaopheniidae on which it presumably feeds.[6]

References
  1. Baba, K. 1938. Three new nudibranchs from Izu, Middle Japan. Annotationes Zoologicae Japonenses 17(2):130-133.
  2. Behrens, D. W. (2004). Doto bella. In: The Slug Site, Ed. Miller, M..
  3. Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Apr 7). Comment on Doto from Indonesia by Tony Wu. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  4. Gosliner, T.M., Valdés, A. & Behrens, D.W. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification - Indo-Pacific. New World Publications, Jacksonville, Florida, 408 pp., Doto sp. 12, page 330.
  5. Baba, K. 1971. Anatomical studies on three species of Doto (D. bella, D. japonica and D. pita) from Japan (Nudibranchia: Dendronotoidea: Dotoidae). Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory 19(2-3):73-79, pls. 4-5.
  6. Doto bella feeding
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