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Doto maculata

Doto maculata (Montagu, 1804)

Doto maculata by Bernard Picton

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Cladobranchia  

 

Superfamily

Dendronotoidea  

 

Family

Dotidae  

 

Genus

Doto  

 

Species

Doto maculata  (Montagu, 1804)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 182733).
Synonyms

  • Doris maculata Montagu, 1804 (original)

Description
Translucent white or cream coloured body with small dark red or reddish brown spots. Rhinophores with whitish scores. High rhinophoric sheaths, with the front part open and slightly scalloped that, on the inside, may have red or reddish brown spots like those on the back. Dorsum with 4-5 pairs of cerata coloured as the body. Cerata with 3-4 rounded tubercle circles with a reddish-brown round point at the end; the apical tubercle is elongated and may not be punctuated round spot at the end. Cream-colored internal digestive gland. Rudimentary pseudobranchs.

Biology
On the British coast it feeds exclusively on the hydroid Halopteris catharina, that grows in dense patches on rocks in the infralittoral zone. Egg spawn is deposited at the base of the hydroid colony where the animal lives.

Etymology

  • Doto. From Latin “Doto”, from “Dōtō”, a sea nymph in Greek mythology.
  • Maculata. Derived from Latín “macula”, spotted, stained.

Distribution
Present in the Atlantic from Norway to the northern coast of Spain. The only Mediterranean report from Palamós (Ballesteros et al., 2019: p.179) is most probably another species.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Doto maculata
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Similar species
Doto coronata. Doto eireana. They have a dark reddish spot at the tips of the terminal ceratal tubercles (which D. maculata does not have) and a reddish colouration inside the base of the cerata and the rhinophoric sheaths.

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★★☆☆☆
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Doto maculata based on our own records.

More pictures

    We have no (more) pictures for Doto maculata

Bibliography

    Adams AA, Adams H. 1853. The genera of recent Mollusca, arranged according to their organization. London (van Voorst): pp.1-256, pls 1-32, 1853; 257-484, pls 33-60, 1854 (1); 1-92, pls 61-72, 1854; 93-284, pls 73-96, 1855; 285-412, pls 97-112, 1856; 413-540, pls 113-128, 1857; 541-661, pls 129-138, 1858 (2). vol 2; pp 45-78 Oct.-Nov. 1854; pp 97-99 Jan 1855; p 632-635 Nov 1858; pls. 62-68, 137, fig. 14; pl 138, fig. 1. Available from http://books.google.com/books?id=wPAKAAAAIAAJ&client=firefox-a.
    Anderson J. 1999 2014. Doto maculata accessed through: Scottish Nudibranchs on 2014-12-21. Available from http://www.nudibranch.org/Scottish Nudibranchs/doto-maculata.html.
    Ballesteros M. 1980. Contribución al conocimientos de los Sacoglosos y Nudibranquios (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Estudio anatómico, sistemático y faunístico de las especies del mediterráneo español. Tesis Doctoral. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona.
    Ballesteros M, Pontes M, Madrenas E. 2019. Els nudibranquis del mar català. Figueres: Brau Edicions. 192 p.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2025. OPK - Opistobranquis. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/.
    Bergh LSR. 1879. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Aeolidiaden. VI. Verhandlungen der koniglich-kaiserlich Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien (Abhandlungen) 28:553- 584, pls. 6-8.
    Brown GH, Picton BE. 1979. Nudibranchs of the British Isles — a colour guide. Underwater Conservation Society, Manchester, by R. Earll. 30 p.
    Debelius H, Kuiter RH. 2007. Nudibranchs of the world. Frankfurt: IKAN- Unterwasserarchiv. 360 pp. p.
    Fernández-Ovies CL, Ortea J. 1981. Contribución al conocimiento de las masas de huevos de los opistobranquios (Molusca: Gastropoda) 1 El género Doto Oken, 1815 en el Norte y Noroeste de España. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Oviedo (Serie Biología) 22: 41-51.
    Garcia FJ, Bertsch H. 2009. Diversity and distribution of the Gastropoda Opisthobranchia from the Atlantic Ocean: A global biogeographic approach. Scientia Marina. 73(1):153–160. https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2009.73n1153.
    Just H, Edmuns M. 1985. North atlantic nudibranchs (Mollusca) seen by Henning Lemche. Ophelia supplement 2: 1-150.
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    McDonald GR, Nybakken JW. 1999. A worldwide review of the food of nudibranch mollusks. II The suborder Dendronotacea. A list of the worldwide food habits of nudibranchs. The Veliger.(42):62–66.
    Montagu G. 1804. Description of several marine animals found on the south coast of Devonshire. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 7:61-85, pls. 6-7.
    Naya Garmendia LM. 2016. Nudibranquios de la Costa Vasca: el pequeño Cantábrico multicolor. Aquarium de Donostia-San Sebastián.
    Ortea J. 1978. Cinco opistobranquios nuevos para la fauna ibérica (Gastropoda: Opistobranchia) colectados en Asturias. Suplemento de Ciencias del Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos 23: 107-120.
    Ortea JA. 1979. Nuevas especies de Nudibranquios del Norte de Espana. Fundacion Juan March, Serie Universitaria 86. Flora Y Fauna Acuaticas, p 25-31, 1 pl.
    Picton BE. 1978. A review of the genus Doto (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) in the N. E. Atlantic and Mediterranean. Porcupine Newsletter 1(5):71-77.
    Picton BE, Brown GH. 1981. Four Nudibranch Gastropods new to the fauna of Great Britain and Ireland including a description of a new species of Doto Oken. Irish Naturalist’s Journal 20(7): 261-268.
    Picton BE, Morrow C. 1994. Doto maculata accessed through: Nudibranchs of the British Isles on 2014-12-14. Available from http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=W12830#.
    Picton BE, Morrow C. 1994. A Field guide to the Nudibranchs of the British Isles. London: Immel Publishing Ltd. London: 143 pp.
    Pruvot Fol A. 1933. Mission Robert Ph. Dollfus en Egypte. Opisthobranchiata. Memoires de l’Institut d’Egypte 21:89-159, pls. 1-4.
    Pruvot-Fol A. 1954. Mollusques opisthobranches. Paris, France: Paul Lechevalier (Faune de France). 460 p.
    Sammut CR, Perrone AS. 1998. A preliminary check-list of Opisthobranchia (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the Maltese Islands. Basteria 62(5-6): 221-240.
    Seaward DR. 1982. Sea area atlas of the marine molluscs of Britain and Ireland. Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland / Nature Conservancy Council, 242 pp.
    Thompson TE. 1988. Molluscs: benthic opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) keys and notes for the  identification of the species. 2nd ed. Avon, Great Britain: Brill, E. J. & Backhuys, W. (Synopses of the British fauna,). 356 p.
    Thompson TE, Brown GH. 1984. Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs. Vol. 2. Ray Society, London 156, pp. 229:
    Todd CD. 1981. The ecology of nudibranch molluscs. Oceanography & Marine Biology Annual Review 19:141-234.
    Turk SM, Seaward DR. 1997. The marine fauna and flora of the Isles of Scilly - Mollusca. Journal  of Natural History 31(4):555-633.
    Urgorri V. 1981. Opistobranquios de Galicia: Estudio faunístico y zoogeográfico. Tesis doctoral. Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. 569 pp. p.
    Urgorri V, Besteiro C. 1983. Inventario de los moluscos Opistobranquios de Galicia. Investigación Pesquera 47 (1): 3-28.
    Urgorri V, Besteiro C. 1984. La alimentación de los Moluscos Nudibranquios de Galicia. Iberus 4: 51-58.
    Urgorri V, Besteiro C. 1986. Opistobranquios nuevos para el litoral ibérico colectados en Galicia II. Iberus 6 (1): 95-99.
    WoRMS Editorial Board. 2025. World Register of Marine Species. WoRMS. Available from http://www.marinespecies.org.

    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

Cite this article as:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Doto maculata" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 21/05/2014. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=12033)