Okenia academica
Camacho-García & Gosliner, 2004

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Goniodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

PHOTO

Upper: Living animal, Costa Rica  [INB003118104]. Lower: SEM of radula of animal in photo, showing teeth on left side. Scale bar = 10µm. [from Camacho-García & Gosliner, 2004 with permission].

Mantle and sides of body opaque white with small rounded reddish tubercles scattered over the mantle. There are eight lateral papillae along each side of the body. The most anterior on each side is longer than the others and situated in front of the rhinphores. The most posterior papillae on each side bifurcates near the base and could be described as  pair of papillae with a common base. All these papillae are white with an orange to brick red tip. The relatively long rhinophores are translucent with a tinge of orange or reddish brown. The gills are similarly coloured. The radula [1.1.0.1.1.] is typical of the Goniodorididae, each row having a large inner tooth on each side, with a broad base and large recurved denticulate cusp, and a small outer tooth. Nothing is known of its biology. The only indication we have of its size is that preserved specimens were 6 mm long.

  • Camacho-García, Y.E. & Gosliner, T.M. (2004) A New Species of Okenia (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) from the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 55: 431-438.
  • Gosliner, T. M. & Bertsch, H. (2004) Systematics of Okenia from the Pacific Coast of North America (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of three new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 55: 412-428, figs. 1-11.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2004 (December 21) Okenia academica Camacho-García & Gosliner, 2004. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/okenacad