The BioFiles - Bill Hubick

White-spotted Dorid (Doriopsilla fulva)

Source: Wikipedia

Doriopsilla fulva
Drawing of dorsal view of Doriopsilla fulva
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Superfamily: Phyllidioidea
Family: Dendrodorididae
Genus: Doriopsilla
Species:
D. fulva
Binomial name
Doriopsilla fulva
Synonyms

Doriopsis fulva MacFarland, 1905

Doriopsilla fulva is a species of dorid nudibranch, a sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Dendrodorididae.[2]

Distribution

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This species is found from Point Loma, San Diego to Humboldt County California.[3]

Doriopsilla fulva

Description

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This nudibranch can grow as large as 33 mm. It is pale yellow in colour, with dots of opaque white on the tips of the dorsal tubercles but not between the tubercles. The rhinophores have 10-12 lamellae and a pale yellow club with a white stalk. The gills are white with five pinnae. It has frequently been confused with Doriopsilla albopunctata and several other species which form a pseudocryptic species complex.[3]

Life habits

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Doriopsilla fulva eats sponges.

References

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  1. ^ MacFarland, F. M. (1905). A preliminary account of the Dorididae of Monterey Bay, California. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 18, 35–54.
  2. ^ Bouchet, P. (2015). Doriopsilla fulva (MacFarland, 1905). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-12-13.
  3. ^ a b 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.