Doto orcha
Yonow, 200

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DENDRONOTINA
Family: Dotidae

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from the Red Sea

PHOTO

Eilat, "University", Israel, Red Sea (Gulf of Eilat). Depth: 6 m. Length: 8 mm. 15 July 2005. corals. Photographer: Binyamin and Shulamit Koretz

This species was described from a single preserved animal, 6mm long, and an accompanying colour photo. It was diagnosed as "body narrow, creamy white with longitudinal beige band, covered with tubercles; eight pairs of tuberculate cerata without pseudobranchs, simple rhinophore sheaths and digitiform rhinophores." In the fuller description the body is described as long. the cerata are irregularly tuberculate, and there are numerous white tubercles scatterd over the dorsum and sides of the body. Since the description was based on a single specimen we know nothing about this species variation in colour or shape. However it is most probable that this record from Benjamin Koretz [#15715 ] is Doto orcha. The animal illustrated here is proportionally much longer than Yonow's, but I don't know if that is just because it is crawling and Yonow's was at rest on a hydroid. The cerata are proportionally much smaller compared to the size of the body than in Yonow's. Also, Yonow described a distinct beige band down the dorsal midline, which is absent in Koretz's animal, which also shows a distinct dark spot at the inner base of each cerata.

Doto orcha was reported by Yonow from the thecate hydroid Dynamena disticha from the Gulf of Aqaba.

• Yonow, N. (2000) Red Sea Opisthobranchia 4: The orders Cephalaspidea, Anaspidea, Notaspidea and Nudibranchia: Dendronotacea and Aeolidacea. Fauna of Arabia, 18: 87-131.

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