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Doto rosea

Doto rosea Trinchese, 1881

Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas

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 rosea  Trinchese, 1881

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 139653).
Synonyms

  • Doto aurea Trinchese, 1881
  • Doto aurita Hesse, 1872 
  • Doto cinerea Trinchese, 1881 (original)

Description
Animals can reach a length of 12 mm but generally they do not exceed 10 mm. The body is semitransparent and coloured creamy-white, due to the internal viscera that can be observed through the integument. The back, sides of the body, head and the inside of the rhinophoric sheaths have scattered spots coloured red or very dark brown (almost black) of different sizes and shapes. There is also a very dark spot at the base of the cerata, that may be missing in the first pair. On the head, rhinophores are relatively long in relation to the body length and have the typical white granulations scattered across its surface without any recognizable pattern. These granulations are also found in the widened upper edge of the rhinophoric sheaths and front veil. Two pre-rhinophoric ridges descend from the anterior side of the base of the rhinophoric sheaths down to the front veil. There are generally five pairs of cerata along the body, this is perhaps the most useful feature for identifying this species. The cerata are slim when the animal is moving and has 4-5 rings of rounded tubercles, almost spherical, like the largest and most prominent apical tuber. On the inside of the developed cerata there is a tuberculate pseudobranch. The inner side of the cerata present a very dense cream or yellow-orange colour, may have whitish granulations and, sometimes, a dark spot blurred within each tubercle. The foot is narrow and semitransparent.

Biology
This species lives in rocky walls with algae and hydroids, the substrate cited in literature is the athecate hydrozoan colonies of Eudendrium sp. (Lemche, 1976; Schmeckel & Kress, 1977; Thompson et al., 1990). We have observed this species in Nature on thecate hydroids colonies as Aglaophenia sp., Obelia geniculata and other sertularids species and even on Posidonia oceanica leaves with epibiont hydroids. The spawn is laid on sertularid hydroid colonies as an elongated cord or narrow ribbon with white eggs.

Etymology

  • Doto. From Latín “doto”, gifted.
  • Rosea. From Latín “roseus”, pink.

Distribution
Doto rosea is a rare European species that has been cited in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts, where it appears in both Eastern and Western basins. In the Iberian Peninsula it has been cited on the coasts of southern Portugal (Oliveira, 1895), on the coast of Andalusia (Atlantic and Mediterranean) and the Levantine coast (Cervera et al. 2004). In the Catalan coast, D. rosea has been observed in Llançà, L’Escala, L’Estartit, Medes islands and Tossa de Mar.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Doto rosea
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

Abundance

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

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

Videos

 

More pictures

Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea 3mm
Doto rosea
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea spawn on sertularid hydroid (18-08-1983) @ Mar Menuda, Tossa de Mar by Manuel Ballesteros
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea by Enric Madrenas
Doto rosea @ Costa Brava, Spain by Miquel Pontes
Doto rosea @ Costa Brava, Spain by Miquel Pontes
Doto rosea by José Carlos García Gómez

Bibliography

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    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:

Pujals, Á., Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Doto rosea" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 16/04/2013. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=7349)