Doris pseudoargus (Rapp, 1827)

Description

A large dorid nudibranch reaching about 120 mm in length. The body is oval and robust, with the mantle densely covered by tubercles of various sizes and irregularly mottled with yellow, green, brown and red — a lemon-like appearance that gives the species its English common name "Sea Lemon".

Distribution

Originally described from Le Havre on the English Channel coast of France. Subsequently recorded throughout the north-east Atlantic, from the Mediterranean north to the coasts of Norway, on rocky shores from the intertidal down to about 300 m depth.

Etymology

The specific epithet pseudoargus combines the Greek pseudo- ("false") with argus (after the many-eyed giant of Greek myth), meaning "the false Argus" — alluding to the eye-spot–like mottling on the back and to the resemblance to (and distinction from) the earlier Doris argus.

Remarks

Feeds primarily on the sponge Halichondria panicea. The species is semelparous: adults die soon after spawning.

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References

• Doris pseudoargus n. sp., Rapp W.L. von (1827). Ueber das Molluskengeschlecht Doris und Beschreibung einiger neue Arten derselben. Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum. 13(2): 513-522.
• Doris pseudoargus, Fernández-Vilert R., Arnedo M.A., Salvador X., Valdés Á., Schrödl M. & Moles J. (2024). Shining disco: shedding light into the systematics of the family Discodorididae (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 203(1): zlae170. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae170