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Okenia zoobotryon

Okenia zoobotryon (Smallwood, 1910)

Okenia zoobotryon Smallwood, 1910 by OPK

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Doridina  

 

Infraorder

Doridoidei  

 

Superfamily

Onchidoridoidea  

 

Family

Goniodorididae  

 

Subfamily

Goniodoridinae  

 

Genus

Bermudella  

 

Species

Bermudella zoobotryon   (Smallwood, 1910)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 597199).
Synonyms

  • Bermudella zoobotryon (Smallwood, 1910)
  • Polycerella zoobotryon Smallwood, 1910 (original)

Description

Biology

Etymology

  • Okenia. Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Ludwig Gilbert Lorenz Oken, (1779-1851), German natural philosopher, who was editor of the natural history journal “Isis” and published the well-known “Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte” (Natural History Textbook). It’s nomenclature is not binominal, so the names in volume 3 (the zoology part) are unavailable for nomenclatural use.
  • Zoobotryon. A genus of colonial bryozoan with a bush-like structure, on which apparently this Okenia feeds.

Distribution
Pola (2015) redescribes Okenia zoobotryon and also proposes a neotype for it. This author commented us that this species has a strictly Caribbean distribution (Bermuda island, its type locality, and Cuba) and that citations of this species around the world may correspond to a complex of cryptic species with a very similar morphology that must be molecularly analyzed. The specimens found in the Mare Piccolo (Salento, Italy) and the Costa Brava (Catalonia, Spain) correspond to Okenia longiductis Pola, Paz-Sedano, Macali, Minchin, Marchini, Vitale, Licchelli & Crocetta, 2019.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Okenia zoobotryon
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 Okenia zoobotryon based on our own records.

More pictures

    We have no (more) pictures for Okenia zoobotryon

Bibliography

    Abbott RT. 1974. American seashells. The marine mollusca of the Atlantic and Pacific coast of North America. Van Nostrand, New York. 663 pp., 24 pls. [October 1974].
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2025. OPK - Opistobranquis. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/.
    Caballer M, Ortea J, Rivero N, et al. 2015. The opisthobranch gastropods (Mollusca: Heterobranchia) from Venezuela: an annotated and illustrated inventory of species. Zootaxa 4034 (2): 201–256.
    Caballer M, Narciso S, Rivero N, et al. 2022. Nudibranquios y otras babosas marinas de Venezuela. Caracas. Venezuela: Explora Ediciones.
    Cervera JL, Calado G, Gavaia C, et al. 2004. An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 20 (1-4): 1-111. L.
    Clark KB. 1984. New records and synonymies of Bermuda opisthobranchs (Gastropoda). Nautilus 98(2):85-97.
    Debelius H, Kuiter RH. 2007. Nudibranchs of the world. Frankfurt: IKAN- Unterwasserarchiv. 360 pp. p.
    Edmunds M, Just H. 1985. Dorid, dendronotid and arminid nudibranchiate Mollusca from Barbados. J. Molluscan Stud. 51(1):52-63.
    Fischer MA. 2006. Opisthobranchs from the Chilean coast, a taxonomic, morphological and  histological study of nudibranch species. 173 p.
    Frank, B. et al. 1998 2014. Okenia zoobotryon accessed through: JaxShells.org on 2014-12-14. Available from http://www.jaxshells.org/zoob8.htm.
    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.
    Long SJ. 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000. Bayside Books & Press, Tustin, CA, U.S.A. 672p.
    Marcus E d. BR. 1977. An annotated checklist of the western Atlantic warm water opisthobranchs. J. Molluscan Stud., Suppl 4:1-23.
    Marcus Er. 1957. On opisthobranchia from Brazil 2. Journal of the Linnean Society of London (Zoology) 43(292): 390-486.
    McDonald G. 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia. 2nd Online Edition, Annotated. 1072 pp  Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz. Available from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8115h0wz.
    Moro L, Martín Esquivel JL, Garrido Sanahuja MJ, et al. 2003. Lista de especies marinas de Canarias (algas, hongos, plantas y animales). Consejería de Política Territorial y Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Canarias. 248 p.
    Ortea J, Moro L, Espinosa J. 2009. El género Okenia Menke, 1830 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) en las islas Canarias con notas sobre Okenia zoobotryon (Smallwood, 1910) una especie en controversia permanente. Vieraea 37: 75-83.
    Ortea J, Moro L, Bacallado JJ. 2015. Babosas Marinas Canarias. Turquesa Ediciones.
    Ortea J, L. Moro MC, Bacallado JJ. 2003. Resultados Científicos del proyecto “Macaronesia 2000” Chinijo-2002: Moluscos Opistobranquios. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias 14 (3-4): 165-180.
    Ortea JA, Moro L, Bacallado JJ, et al. 1996. Nuevos datos sobre la fauna de doridos farenobranquios (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) de las Islas Canarias. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias 8 (2, 3 and 4): 125-138.
    Ortea JA, Moro L, Bacallado JJ, et al. 2001. Catálogo actualizado de los Moluscos Opistobranquios de las Islas Canarias. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias. 12(3–4):105–136.
    Pola M. 2015. The Identity of Okenia zoobotryon (Smallwood, 1910) (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae): Redescription and Proposed Designation of a Neotype. American Malacological Bulletin, 33(1):1-6. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.4003/006.033.0101.
    Pola M, Paz-Sedano S, Macali A, et al. 2019. What is really out there? Review of the genus Okenia Menke, 1830 (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) in the Mediterranean Sea with description of two new species. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215037. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215037.
    Rudman WB. 2004. Further species of the opisthobranch genus Okenia (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) from the Indo-West Pacific. Zootaxa 695 : 1-70.
    Rudman W.B. et al. 1998 2010. Okenia zoobotryon accessed through: Sea Slug Forum on 2014-12-14. Available from http://seaslugforum.net/showall/okenzoob.
    Smallwood WM. 1910. Notes on the hydroids and nudibranchs of Bermuda. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 1; pp 137-145.
    Smallwood WM. 1913. Polycerella zoobotryon (Smallwood). Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences 47(16):609- 630.
    Smallwood WM. 1912. Polycerella zoobotryon. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 47: 609–630.
    Trainito E, Doneddu M. 2014. Nudibranchi del Mediterraneo. 2nd. Il Castello. 192 p.
    Turgeon D, Quinn JF, Bogan AE, et al. 1998. Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks. 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society Special Publication, 26.
    Valdés Á, Ortea J. 1995. Revised taxonomy of some species of the genus Okenia Menke, 1830 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) from the Atlantic Ocean, with the description of a new species. The Veliger, 38(3): 223-234.
    Valdés A, Hamann J, Behrens DW, et al. 2006. Caribbean sea slugs: a field guide to the opisthobranch mollusks from the tropical northwestern Atlantic. Washington: Sea Challengers Natural History Books. 289 pp.
    Willan RC. 2004. Godiva quadricolor (Barnard, 1927) (Nudibranchia: Facelinidae) spreads into southern Queensland. The Beagle, Records of the Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory  20:31-36.
    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) "Okenia zoobotryon" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 19/12/2014. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=17177)