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 | |
|---|---|
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| Doto amyra from Pillar Point, CA | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder: | Cladobranchia |
| Family: | Dotidae |
| Genus: | Doto |
| Species: | D. amyra
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| Binomial name | |
| Doto amyra Marcus, 1961[1]
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Distribution
editThis species occurs from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico.
Description
editThis 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
edit- ^ Marcus, Er. (1961) Opisthobranch mollusks from California. The Veliger, 3 (Supplement): 1-85. (Pls.1-10), page 38.
- ^ Rosenberg, G. (2015). Doto amyra Er. Marcus, 1961. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-12-28
- ^ Behrens, David W., 1980, Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington.
- ^ Rudman, W.B., 2002 (April 17) Doto amyra Marcus, 1961. Factsheet. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
- ^ Ken-ichi Ueda, 2015. Photo and discussion on Flickr
- ^ McDonald, G., 2015. Intertidal Invertebrates of the Monterey Bay Area, California.
- ^ Rudman, W.B., 2002 (April 17) Doto amyra Marcus, 1961. Discussion. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
- ^ Behrens, D. (2002) Doto amyra In: Miller M. The Slug Site, accessed 28-12-2015.
- ^ 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.