''Doto cabecar'' 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 ...

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 ...

, a

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

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Dotidae Dotidae are a taxonomic family of small sea slugs, nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs formerly assigned to the order Opisthobranchia, but now considered to belong to the clade Dexiarchia. This family has also been spelled in the ...

Distribution

This species was described from the Caribbean coast of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. It has subsequently been reported from the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

.Valdés, Ángel; Hamann, Jeff; Behrens, David W.; DuPont, Anne. ''Caribbean Sea Slugs'', Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Etc., Gig Harbor, Washington 2006, pp. 150-151.

Description

This nudibranch is pale brown with yellow

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 and

cerata :''The tortrix moth genus ''Cerata'' is considered a junior synonym of ''Cydia. Cerata, singular ceras, are anatomical structures found externally in nudibranch sea slugs, especially in aeolid nudibranchs, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks ...

. The ceratal tubercles bear dark spots, except for the terminal tubercle on each ceras, which has a concentration of internal white glands. Further details of this species are given in Ortea & Caballer, 2003.Ortea, J. A., & M. Caballer. (2003
''Nuevos caracteres anatómicos de ''Doto cabecar'' Ortea, 2001 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia).''
Avicennia, Revista de Oceanología, Ecología y Biodiversidad Tropical 16:107-112. The maximum recorded body length is 14 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.

Ecology

Minimum recorded depth is 20 m. Maximum recorded depth is 20 m. ''Doto cabecar'' feeds on the hydroid, '' Thyroscyphus marginatus'' (family

Sertulariidae Sertulariidae is a family of hydrozoans. Genera According to the World Register of Marine Species, the following genera belong to this family: *'' Abietinaria'' Kirchenpauer, 1884 *'' Amphisbetia'' L. Agassiz, 1862 *'' Caledoniana'' Galea, 2015 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13596842 Dotidae Gastropods described in 2001