Dermatobranchus striatus van Hasselt, 1824

Description

A small, dorsoventrally flattened, oval arminid. As the specific epithet implies, the body bears longitudinal stripes along the dorsum, framed by yellow head and foot margins; the rhinophore tips are black. Found on octocorals, including pipe-organ corals and other soft corals.

Distribution

Indo-West Pacific. Records include Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Thailand. The type locality is Anyer Bay (Anjer-baai), west Java, Sunda Strait, Indonesia.

Etymology

The specific epithet striatus is the Latin for "furrowed" or "grooved", referring to the parallel longitudinal grooves on the dorsum. Van Hasselt's diagnosis describes the body as "dorso mucosa sulcata, sulcis simplicibus, longitudinalibus, rectis, parallelis" — the dorsum mucous and grooved, with simple, longitudinal, straight, parallel grooves.

Remarks

Feeds on octocorals (soft corals, gorgonians, sea pens). The original description by van Hasselt (Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles et de Géologie, vol. 1: 243, 1824) is the founding act of the genus Dermatobranchus van Hasselt, 1824, where this species was placed first among the three congeners (with D. pustulosus and D. gonatophorus) and characterised as "vulgaris" (common). The genus name Dermatobranchus alludes to the modified, branchia-like dorsal integument that bears the diagnostic longitudinal grooves.

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References

• Dermatobranchus striatus, Hasselt J.C. van (1824). Extrait d'une lettre du Dr. J.C. Van Hasselt, à M. C.J. Temminck, sur les mollusques de Java (traduit du Algemeene Konst- en Letterbode 1824 par H. Boie). Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles et de Géologie (Férussac), Tome 1: 237-247.
• ホンオトメウミウシ（新称）, Baba, K. (1992) Critical review of Dermatobranchus striatus van Hasselt 1824 (Nudibranchia: Arminidae) with the description of a new species. Venus, The Japanese Journal of Malacology, 50(4): 239-248, 1pl.