Doriopsilla bertschi

Doriopsilla bertschi is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colourful sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dendrodorididae.[2]

Doriopsilla bertschi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Euctenidiacea
clade Doridacea
Superfamily:
Phyllidioidea
Family:
Dendrodorididae
Genus:
Doriopsilla
Species:
D. bertschi
Binomial name
Doriopsilla bertschi
Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015[1]

There are five other species that are quite similar to this species and can be confused with it, and they are: Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863), Doriopsilla davebehrensi Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015, Doriopsilla fulva (MacFarland, 1905), Doriopsilla gemela Gosliner, Schaefer & Millen, 1999 and Baptodoris mimetica Gosliner, 1991.[1]

Distribution

This species was described from Bahía de los Ángeles, Baja California, Mexico.[1]

Description

This nudibranch can grow as large as 22 mm. It can be dark yellow or orange in colour, but always with very small opaque white dots. The dots are scattered irregularly and are similar in size when on the minute tubercles or between them.[1] The rhinophores are dark yellow to orange in colour, and the gills are very large and also dark yellow to orange in colour.[1]

Life habits

Doriopsilla bertschi eats a sponge.

References
  1. Hoover C., Lindsay T., Goddard J.H.R. & Valdés A. (2015). Seeing double: pseudocryptic diversity in the Doriopsilla albopunctata–Doriopsilla gemela species complex of the north-eastern Pacific. Zoologica Scripta. 44: 612-631.
  2. Bouchet, P. (2016). Doriopsilla bertschi Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-12-14.
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