Doto amyra, or the hammerhead doto, is a species of very small or minute sea slug, a nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Dotidae.[2]

Doto amyra
Doto amyra from Pillar Point, CA
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Cladobranchia
Family: Dotidae
Genus: Doto
Species:
D. amyra
Binomial name
Doto amyra
Marcus, 1961[1]
Doto amyra in a tide pool in Central California. The photographer's fingertips on the left give an indication of the minute size of this specimen.

Distribution

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This species occurs from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico.

Description

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This nudibranch reaches a maximum size of 14 mm, but commonly it is under 10 mm in adult size.[3]

The body is colourless, but the cerata are coloured due to the digestive glands inside them. The colour of the digestive gland can be creamy yellow to orange-red to brown, depending on the colour of the hydroids that an individual specimen has been eating.[4] Compared with Doto kya and Doto columbiana this species lacks any dark pigment on the body.[5][6]

Ecology

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This nudibranch feeds on hydroids. It has been reported apparently feeding on a variety of species including Garveia sp., Bougainvilliidae, Abietinaria spp., Sertulariidae as well as a plumulariid hydroid.[7] This may be evidence of a species complex rather than a single species.[8] It in unusual in having a form of development where the eggs are large compared with most Doto species and therefore larvae which settle after only a few days in the plankton.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Marcus, Er. (1961) Opisthobranch mollusks from California. The Veliger, 3 (Supplement): 1-85. (Pls.1-10), page 38.
  2. ^ Rosenberg, G. (2015). Doto amyra Er. Marcus, 1961. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-12-28
  3. ^ Behrens, David W., 1980, Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington.
  4. ^ Rudman, W.B., 2002 (April 17) Doto amyra Marcus, 1961. Factsheet. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  5. ^ Ken-ichi Ueda, 2015. Photo and discussion on Flickr
  6. ^ McDonald, G., 2015. Intertidal Invertebrates of the Monterey Bay Area, California.
  7. ^ Rudman, W.B., 2002 (April 17) Doto amyra Marcus, 1961. Discussion. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  8. ^ Behrens, D. (2002) Doto amyra In: Miller M. The Slug Site, accessed 28-12-2015.
  9. ^ Goddard, J.H.R. 1996. Lecithotrophic development in Doto amyra (Nudibranchia: Dendronotacea), with a review of developmental mode in the genus. The Veliger 39(1):43-54.