Doto fragilis (Forbes, 1838)

Salvador, Xavier, Fernández-Vilert, Robert & Moles, Juan, 2022, Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda), Journal of Natural History 56 (5 - 8), pp. 265-310 : 280

Doto fragilis (Forbes, 1838)

( Figure 3 (g))

Material examined

Punta del Romaní , L’Escala ( Spain), 42°6 ʹ 54”N, 3°10 ʹ 9”E, 6 March 2021, 9 m depth, 1 spc ., juvenile, L = 10 mm.

External morphology

Body elongate, cream to brown, with numerous white spots in oral veil. Rhinophoral sheath and back with numerous white spots in juveniles; rhinophoral sheath completely white in adults. Cerata beige to ochre, darker than body. Rhinophores homogeneously ochre.

Ecology

This species frequents cold waters, feeding on colonies of hydrozoans, especially of the genus Nemertesia Lamouroux, 1812 , on which it lays egg masses in the form of a pink ribbon.

Distribution

Widely recorded in the north-eastern Atlantic to the Galician coast ( Ortea et al, 1978); Mediterranean Sea: Catalonian coast (this study).

Remarks

Often found feeding on Nemertesia antenninna (Linnaeus, 1758) . This is the first record in the Mediterranean Sea, wherein it was observed inside a cave feeding on Kirchenpaueria pinnata (Linnaeus, 1758) ; after two weeks the specimen and its prey were not found anymore.

Figures

Figure 3. Photographs of live Nudibranchia species: (a) Palio nothus and its egg mass. (b) The alien Polycera hedgpethi. (c) Polycerella emertoni and egg mass on Amathia verticillata. (d) Thecacera pennigera on top of the bryozoan Bugula sp. (e) Two specimens of Anteaeolidiella lurana and their egg masses. (f) Doto cervicenigra. (g) Doto fragilis (photo credit: Oriol Planas). (h) Doto pygmaea.