Okenia echinata

Okenia echinata is a species of sea slug, specifically a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Goniodorididae.[2]

Okenia echinata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Euctenidiacea
clade Doridacea
Superfamily:
Onchidoridoidea
Family:
Goniodorididae
Genus:
Okenia
Species:
O. echinata
Binomial name
Okenia echinata
Baba, 1949[1]

Distribution

This species was described from Sagami Bay, Japan. Similar looking animals have been reported from Australia and India.[3]

Description

This Okenia has a broad body and many short, triangular, pointed, lateral papillae. There are scattered, shorter, papillae on the back, between the rhinophores and the gills and in front of the rhinophores. The body is described as uniformly brown with small spots of white pigment. Recent finds from Japan show body colour is variable through red to orange and the papillae have orange tips.[3]

Ecology

The diet of this species is probably a ctenostome bryozoan.[4]

References
  1. Baba, K., 1949. Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay collected by His Majesty The Emperor of Japan. Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo. 194pp., 50 Pls.
  2. Rosenberg, G. (2015). Okenia echinata Baba, 1949. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-10-23
  3. Rudman, W.B., 2004 (December 21) Okenia echinata Baba, 1949. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  4. Okenia echinata. At: umiushi-zukan.com.
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