Doto albida Baba, 1955

Description

A small Dotidae, body length 6-10 mm. Diagnostic features: (1) The whole body is nearly colourless, with no dark patterning on the body surface; only the central vein of the cerata is faintly yellow. (2) The apices of the spherical surface tubercles on the cerata are colourless like the rest of the body — they are NOT blackened. (3) The inner face of the cerata bears a simple two- to three-branched gill. Cerata 5-6 per side, usually with 4 whorls of spherical tubercles, each whorl with 4-6 tubercles. Genital orifice and anus in the typical positions for the genus. Radula formula 70-100×0.1.0. The central tooth bears only 1-2 denticles on each side of the median cusp.

Distribution

Type locality is Kameshiro-shō, Sagami Bay (13 m depth, July 1953, 2 specimens). Additional records from Hayama-Najima, Sagami Bay (6-10 m, July 1952, 4 specimens) and Hayama-Koiso, Sagami Bay (2-4 m, July 1953, 10 specimens). The original description (Baba, 1955) records the species only from Sagami Bay.

Etymology

The specific epithet albida is Latin for whitish. The original description does not give an explicit etymology paragraph; the descriptive sense reflects the nearly colourless body.

Remarks

Baba 1955 provides a comparison table with the sympatric Doto japonica and Doto bella. The present species is diagnosed by the colourless body, the non-blackened tubercle apices, and the simple two- to three-branched gills (versus dark-spotted Doto japonica with blackened tubercles and dendritic gills, and golden or colourless Doto bella with blackened tubercles and no gills).

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References

• シロマツカサウミウシ（新稱）, 生物學御研究所編. (1955). 相模湾産後鰓類図譜〈補遺〉. 岩波書店.
• シロマツカサウミウシ, 鈴木敬宇. (2000). ウミウシガイドブック〈2〉. TBSブリタニカ.
• 高岡生物研究会. (2002). 日本海のウミウシ. 第2版.