Doto cavernicola

Doto cavernicola Vázquez‑Alcaide, X. Salvador & Moles, 2025

Doto cavernicola living in a cave entrance. CC BY 4.0 by Xavier Salvador

Taxonomic note: Doto cavernicola is a species of the family Dotidae described from specimens collected along the Catalan coast and characterised using morphological, anatomical and molecular evidence. The species is retained in the genus Doto Oken, 1815 and belongs to the species complex closely related to D. coronata (Gmelin, 1791). Phylogenetic analyses support its distinction from the latter species and from D. eireana Lemche, 1976 (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025).

Description
This is a very small nudibranch, with an elongated, slender body reaching at least 2.5 mm in length in the type specimen. The body is white, with small, irregular red spots distributed over its surface, more abundant along the sides and absent from the dorsal area surrounding the cerata. The rhinophores are white, with pigmentation particularly noticeable on their apical halves, and arise from short sheaths in which a few red spots can be seen through the tissue. The oral veil lacks pigmentation. There are three or four pairs of cerata, bearing tubercles arranged in two or three rows. The tubercles are elongated and have a red spot at the apex, while their bases show small, irregular markings. This combination of characters helps distinguish the species from other closely related members of the genus (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025).

Biology
The specimens studied were found on rocky substrates at the entrances to shallow underwater caves, at approximately 1 m depth, associated with colonies of the hydrozoan Diphasia cf. delagei (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025), on which they feed. As in other members of the genus Doto, these nudibranchs do not consume the polyps directly, but pierce the perisarc of the stems and extract the contents of the colony’s coenenchyme (Thompson & Brown, 1984; Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025). The animals are more active at night and remain hidden at the base of the hydrozoan colonies during the day. The first specimens were recorded between December and June. The first egg masses were observed in February, and a second egg-laying period was detected between May and June. As temperatures rise, the hydrozoan colonies die and the nudibranchs complete their life cycle (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025). The egg masses are white and consist of a sinuous cord with three to five folds. They are attached to rocky surfaces or to the hydrozoan colonies on which the species feeds (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025).

Etymology

• Doto: from the Latin Doto, the name of a sea nymph, derived from the Greek Dōtō.
• Cavernicola: refers to the habitat where the species was found, namely the entrance to an underwater cave.

Distribution
Until the publication of its original description, Doto cavernicola was known only from the Catalan coast, in the western Mediterranean. The type material comes from the caves of Cala Maset, in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Girona), where the holotype was collected at a depth of 1 m on 6 May 2020 (Vázquez-Alcaide et al., 2025). For the time being, a wider distribution cannot be considered established.

More pictures

Bibliography

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Vázquez-Alcaide, D., Salvador, X., Giribet, G., Hooker, Y., Schrödl, M., Moles, J. (2025). Systematic revision of the speciose sea slug genus Doto (Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia) from the Mediterranean to South America. Marine Biodiversity, 56(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-025-01600-6
Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

• MINKA
• World Register of Marine Species

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