''Doriopsilla albopunctata'', the white-spotted sea goddess, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of dorid

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to matc ...

, a colorful

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

, in the family

Dendrodorididae Dendrodorididae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod molluscs in the Superfamily Phyllidioidea. Genera A maximum-parsimony analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the 16S mtDNA gene In biology, th ...

. It is native to the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

of North America, from

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

south, possibly to Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. There are five other species that are quite similar to ''Doriopsilla albopunctata'' and can be confused with it: '' Doriopsilla bertschi'' (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), '' Doriopsilla davebehrensi'' (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), '' Doriopsilla fulva'' (MacFarland, 1905), '' Doriopsilla gemela'' (Gosliner, Schaefer & Millen, 1999), and ''

Baptodoris mimetica ''Baptodoris mimetica'' is a species of sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae.Rosenberg, G. (2015)''Baptodoris mimetica'' Gosliner, 1991.In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of ...

'' ( Gosliner, 1991).Hoover C., Lindsay T., Goddard J.H.R. & Valdés A. (2015)
''Seeing double: pseudocryptic diversity in the ''Doriopsilla albopunctata–Doriopsilla gemela'' species complex of the north-eastern Pacific.
Zoologica Scripta. 44: 612-631.

Distribution

This species is found from Mendocino to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and possibly on the Pacific coast of Baja California Peninsula,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Description

This nudibranch can grow as large as 60 mm ( inches). It can be yellow or orange or brown, but always with very small opaque white dots. The dots are on the tips of raised tubercles and in circles around the tubercles. The

rhinophore A rhinophore is one of a pair of chemosensory club-shaped, rod-shaped or ear-like structures which are the most prominent part of the external head anatomy in sea slugs, marine gastropod opisthobranch mollusks such as the nudibranchs, sea har ...

s on the head end are yellow or orange-yellow in color, and the gills (the rosette at the back) are white or pale yellow.

Diet

The food of ''Doriopsilla albopunctata'' needs to be clarified in the light of newly discovered species and reports may be of related species. It has been reported to eat an orange sponge at

Bahía de los Ángeles ("Bay of the Angels") is a coastal bay on the Gulf of California, located along the eastern shore of the Baja California Peninsula in the state of Baja California, Mexico. The town of the same name is located at the east end of Federal Highway ...

but this is possibly a reference to ''Doriopsilla bertschi''.Bertsch, H., (2000
''Doriopsilla albopunctata''
In: Miller, M. The Slug Site, accessed 2016-12-14. It has also been reported to eat ''

Cliona californiana ''Cliona californiana'', the yellow boring sponge, boring sponge or sulphur sponge, is a species of demosponge belonging to the family Clionaidae. It is native to the north-eastern Pacific Ocean and burrows into the shell valves of bivalve mollu ...

'', the yellow boring sponge.

Distribution

Description

Diet

References

Further reading