Doriopsilla albopunctata

Doriopsilla albopunctata, the white-spotted sea goddess, is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colorful sea slug, in the family Dendrodorididae.^[1][2] It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from Mendocino County, California south, possibly to Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.^[3]

Doriopsilla albopunctata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Nudibranchia
Superfamily:	Phyllidioidea
Family:	Dendrodorididae
Genus:	Doriopsilla
Species:	D. albopunctata
Binomial name
Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863)

There are five other species that are quite similar to Doriopsilla albopunctata and can be confused with it: Doriopsilla bertschi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla davebehrensi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla fulva (MacFarland, 1905), Doriopsilla gemela (Gosliner, Schaefer & Millen, 1999), and Baptodoris mimetica (Gosliner, 1991).^[3]

Distribution

This species is found from Mendocino to San Diego, California and possibly on the Pacific coast of Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.^[3]

Description

This nudibranch can grow as large as 60 mm (2+1⁄2 inches). It can be yellow or orange or brown, but always with very small opaque white dots. The dots are on the tips of raised tubercles and in circles around the tubercles.^[3] The rhinophores on the head end are yellow or orange-yellow in color, and the gills (the rosette at the back) are white or pale yellow.^[4]

Diet

The food of Doriopsilla albopunctata needs to be clarified in the light of newly discovered species and reports may be of related species.^[3] It has been reported to eat an orange sponge at Bahía de los Ángeles but this is possibly a reference to Doriopsilla bertschi.^[5] It has also been reported to eat Cliona californiana, the yellow boring sponge.^[6]