Doto bella

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Doto bella
Right side view of Doto bella
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Cladobranchia
Family: Dotidae
Genus: Doto
Species:
D. bella
Binomial name
Doto bella
Baba, 1938[1]

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

Distribution[edit]

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[edit]

Doto cf. bella from Indonesia

This 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[edit]

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

References[edit]

  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