Okenia pilosa
(Bouchet and Ortea, 1983)
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: ANADORIDOIDEA
Family: Goniodorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Known from New Caledonia, China (Hong Kong), Papua New Guinea and north-eastern Australia (Heron Is.).
PHOTO
Upper: Gau Tau (N), Mirs Bay, 5-12 m, Hong Kong, April 1983, AM C139137. Photo: B.W. Darvell. Lower: SEM of radula showing two large inner lateral teeth and two outer laterals, on the right side (A) and a close-up of two outer lateral teeth (B). A, Tai Tam Harbour, Hong Kong , 24 February 1984, 0.5 m, AM C141494. Photo: G. Avern. B, Kiu Tsui Chan, Port Shelter, Hong Kong, 4–7 m, February 1984, AM C141495. Photo: A.C. Miller. Scale bars = 10 µm.
NOTE: Previously known on the Forum as Hopkinsia pilosa.
The animal is round and flattened with many finger-like mantle papillae arranged in a series of irregular rows around the sides of the body. There can also be a few papillae in the central part of the mantle, including one on the outside of each rhinophore, another on each side of the gills, and 3 papillae arranged in a transverse row across the dorsum midway between the gills and the rhinophores. The rhinophores and gills are somewhat elongate, looking much like the papillae. There are about 12 gills arranged in a circle around the anus. From above there is no way to distinguish the mantle, foot and head, but ventrally, there is a transverse groove showing where the head and the foot join. There are no oral tentacles.
The body is translucent white with a close speckling of brown and an irregular network of white lines. The brown markings usually consist of a pale brown patch with a central dark brown spot. The mantle papillae are transparent with dark brown specks and some opaque white spots or streaks. The rhinophores and gills are similarly coloured.
The radular teeth are very similar in shape to those of O. plana. The innermost tooth has a broad base and a long elongate pointed cusp, with no sign of denticles along the cutting edge. The much smaller outer teeth have a broad quadrangular base with a large recurved pointed cusp at the tip, below which are 2 or 3 smaller secondary cusps, and then a basal cusp similar in size to the uppermost. However the shape of the denticulation of the outer teeth appears to vary with age (Rudman, 2004).
Like Okenia plana, the colour of the body and its round flattened body make it very well camouflaged on its bryozoan food. Okenia pilosa differs from O. plana in having many more of the finger-like lateral papillae. The animals are about 10 mm long and feed on encrusting bryozoan colonies on which they are found. Bouchet & Ortea, (1983) report this species feeding on an encrusting bryozoan, Calpensia sp. Originally placed in the genus Hopkinsia, a recent review (Gosliner, 2004) can find no grounds for keeping that genus distinct from the earlier Okenia.
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Bouchet, P. & Ortea, J. (1983). A new Hopkinsia feeding on Bryozoa in the South Pacific (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Venus 42(3): 227-233.
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Gosliner, T. M. (2004) Phylogenetic Systematics of Okenia, Sakishimaia, Hopkinsiella and Hopkinsia (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of new species from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 55: 125-161.
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Marshall, J.G. & Willan, R.C. (1999) Nudibranchs of Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. A survey of the Opisthobranchia (Sea Slugs) of Heron and Wistari Reefs. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, 257 pp.
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Rudman, W.B. & Darvell, B.W. (1990) Opisthobranch molluscs of Hong Kong. Part 1. Goniodorididae, Onchidorididae, Triophidae, Gymnodorididae, Chromodorididae, (Nudibranchia). Asian Marine Biology, 7: 31-79
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Rudman, W.B. (2004) Further species of the opisthobranch genus Okenia (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) from the Indo-West Pacific. Zootaxa, 695: 1-70.
ARCHIVE NOTE: An earlier edition of this Fact Sheet [5 July 2001] as Hopkinsia pilosa is available on request.
Authorship detailsRudman, W.B., 2004 (December 21) Okenia pilosa (Bouchet and Ortea, 1983). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/hopkpilo
Related messages
Okenia pilosa from Ratnagiri, India
November 5, 2009
From: Vishal Bhave
Concerning message #6007:
Dear Bill
Richard Willan has suggested this may be Okenia pilosa.
Locality: Undi - Ratnagiri, 10 centimeters, Maharashtra, India, Arabian sea, 30 October 2009, Intertidal, beneath the rock, in rockpool. Length: 02-08 mm. Photographer: Vishal Bhave.
Vishal Bhave
vishalbhave@gmail.com
Dear Vishal,
Yes I would agree that this is most probably Okenia pilosa. I haven't seen one with yellow pigmentation on the rhinophores like in your photos, but since we have so few records of the species we still have much to learn. As you will see from the species Fact Sheet it is at present recorded from New Caledonia, China (Hong Kong), Papua New Guinea and north-eastern Australia, so your find from western India is a significant, though not surprising, increase in its known distribution.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Hopkinsia pilosa from Hong Kong
February 4, 2002
From: Bill Rudman & Brian Darvell
Here is some information and photos on Hopkinsia pilosa from Brian Darvell's Hong Kong collections.
The body is translucent white with a close speckling of dark brown and an irregular fine network of white. The round flattened body is very similar to Hopkinsia plana but there are many more of the finger-like papillae in H. pilosa than in H. plana. They are fairly transparent in colour with dark brown specks and some white specks. The papillae are arranged in a series of irregular rows around the mantle edge. The central part of the mantle is smooth except for one central papilla and one on each side. The rhinophores and gills are somewhat elongate, looking much like the papillae. The animals are about 10 mm long and feed on encrusting bryozoan colonies on which they are found.
PHOTO:
AM C 141494, 6 specimens, 24 February 1984, Site 14.41, Tai Tam Harbour, Hong Kong Is., 0. 5 m. Photos: Brian Darvell.
Hong Kong Collection Records:
(1) AM C139137, 18 specimens, 1 April 1983, Site 4.59, Gau Tau (N), Mirs Bay, 5-12 m. (2)AM C139138, 2 specimens, 13 April 1983, Site 4.65, Chek Chau (NE), Mirs Bay, 2-6 m. (3) AM C 141494, 6 specimens, 24 February 1984, Site 14.41, Tai Tam Harbour, Hong Kong Is., 0. 5 m. (4) AM C141495, 25 February 1984, Site 10.99, Kiu Tau (W), Kiu Tsui Chan, Port Shelter, 4-7 m. (5) AM C150284, 14 April 1986, Site 2.61, Bluff Head, Tolo Channel, 2 m. Depth range 0.5-7 m.
Reference:
• Rudman, W.B. & Darvell, B.W. (1990) Opisthobranch molluscs of Hong Kong. Part 1. Goniodorididae, Onchidorididae, Triophidae, Gymnodorididae, Chromodorididae, (Nudibranchia). Asian Marine Biology, 7: 31-79
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman & Brian Darvell
