Doto fragilis
(Forbes, 1838)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DENDRONOTINA
Family: Dotidae

DISTRIBUTION

North-east Atlantic Ocean from Portugal and Spain to northern Norway and Iceland.

PHOTO

Plompe toren, de Oosterschelde, the Netherlands. PHOTO: Peter van Bragt.

Can reach 34mm in length. One variety, with a dark brown body and paler cerata, feeds on the hydroids, Nemertsia antennina and N. ramosa. Another variety with a transparent white body with brown pigment only on the head, feeds on Halecium muricatum. Has up to 10 pairs of cerata, each with up to 13 concentric circles of pale tubercles. One important character is a white line along each flank from the rhinophore sheath to the tip of the tail (Thompson & Brown, 1984).

Reference:
• Thompson, T.E. & Brown, G.H. (1984) Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs, Vol 2. Ray Society: London.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (August 29) Doto fragilis (Forbes, 1838). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/dotofrag

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