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Rough Doris
Mollusc
Rough Doris
Onchidoris muricata (O. F. Müller, 1776)
WoRMS AphialID
140640
Sample IDs
HMSC174-00221|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO016-23; HMSC174-00222|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO017-23; HMSC174-00269|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO022-23
Collected
Mouton Island, NS and Spectacle Island, NS, from SCUBA hand-collection of bryozoans and hydroids, 10-19 m depth.
Distinguishing Features
• Head: the transparent-white rhinophores have approximately 12 lamellae, which do not extend all the way to the base. They lack tentacles on their large, curved oral veil.
• Body: broadly oval, white, often yellowish-orange in the centre. Abundant blunt club-shaped, spiculose tubercles cover the body. These lack pigment and become more slender near the periphery.
• Gills: a white circlet of up to 11 short, simple pinnate gills.
• Size: to 14 mm.
Habitat
Intertidal to 64 m, on seaweeds and bryozoans.
Geographic Range
Widespread across the Northern Hemisphere from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic and extending into the Arctic. In the Northwest Atlantic, occurs from Newfoundland south to Connecticut.
Fun Fact
These small dorid nudibranchs feed on encrusting bryozoans such as Membranipora
membranacea and Electra pilosa by sucking the tiny colonial animals out of their cases. They have an
internal network of calcite spicules for support and protection. Like many dorid nudibranchs, they live for about one year, with spawning occurring during the winter. They lay eggs in white, coiled ribbons, which hatch in the spring. Larvae spend up to 60 days in the open water, feeding on plankton before they settlein late summer.
Barcode Distribution
Widespread BIN matching specimens from the Northeast Pacific and Europe.
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