Doto amyra

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

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.

Hammerhead doto
Doto amyra from Pillar Point, CA
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Dendronotida
Superfamily:
Tritonioidea
Family:
Dotidae
Genus:
Doto
Species:
D. amyra
Binomial name
Doto amyra
Marcus, 1961[1]

Distribution

This species occurs from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico.

Description

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

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
  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.
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