Cyerce or Doto?

April 15, 2010
From: Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler

I couldn't find the following slug in any of my nudibranch and slug identification books, I am not even sure if it a nudibranch (for example Doto sp.) or a slug (Cyerce sp).
On one of the pictures you can see some kind of gills between the Cerata.

Locality: Seraya, 15 m, Indonesia, Pacific, Aug. 2009, Sand. Length: 5-8 mm. Photographer: Johanna Gawron.

Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler

webmaster@starfish.ch

Zuberbühler, T., 2010 (Apr 15) Cyerce or Doto?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23455

Dear Zubi,

This is indeed a strange animal. The gills on the inside of the peculiar cerata - they look like stacks of pancakes - and the shape of the sheathed rhinophores, make it almost certain that this is a species of Doto. It is Doto sp. 9 in Gosliner, Behrens & Valdes' comprehensive recent book Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs. 

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Apr 15). Comment on Cyerce or Doto? by Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23455

Factsheet

Doto sp. 12