Triopha maculata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Order: | Nudibranchia |
Suborder: | Doridina |
Superfamily: | Polyceroidea |
Family: | Polyceridae |
Genus: | Triopha |
Species: | T. maculata |
Binomial name | |
Triopha maculata MacFarland, 1905 | |
Triopha maculata, common name spotted triopha or speckled triopha, is a species of colorful sea slug, a nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae. This species is very variable in color.
This nudibranch lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico. It also lives in Japan.
Triopha maculata can, on rare occasions, grow as large as 180 mm (a little more than 7 inches) but usually the maximum length is 50 mm (about 2 inches.)
The color can be a very pale and translucent yellow, or it can be a darker yellow, orange, red, and even dark brown. There are always raised whitish spots, hence the name maculata, meaning spotted.
This species feeds on bryozoans.
Nudibranchs are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to match, such as "clown", "marigold", "splendid", "dancer", "dragon", and "sea rabbit". Currently, about 3,000 valid species of nudibranchs are known.
Aplysia is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs, specifically sea hares, which are a kind of marine gastropod mollusk.
Acanthodoris lutea, the orange-peel doris, is a species of nudibranch or sea slug, a shell-less marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Onchidorididae.
Chelidonura hirundinina is a species of small and colorful aglajid sea slug, a shell-less opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aglajidae.
Triopha catalinae, commonly known as the sea clown triopha or sea clown, is a species of colorful sea slug called a nudibranch. Sea clowns are a shell-less marine, gastronomic mollusk in the taxonomic family Polyceridae.
Diaulula sandiegensis is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Discodorididae.
Doriopsilla albopunctata, the white-spotted sea goddess, is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colorful sea slug, in the family Dendrodorididae. It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from Mendocino County, California south, possibly to Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.
Peltodoris nobilis, commonly called the sea lemon, false sea lemon, or the noble dorid, is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae.
Doto amyra, or the hammerhead doto, is a species of very small or minute sea slug, a nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Dotidae.
Geitodoris heathi, common name "Heath's dorid", is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dorididae.
Nembrotha chamberlaini is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae. It was first described in 1997.
Cadlina flavomaculata, common name the yellow-spot cadlina, is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cadlinidae.
Cadlina laevis, common name the white Atlantic cadlina, is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cadlinidae.
Glossodoris hikuerensis, is a species of sea slug, a colorful nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.
Goniobranchus tennentanus is a species of colourful sea slug in the family Chromodorididae.
Felimare bayeri is a species of colorful sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae. It was described by Eveline and Ernst Marcus in 1967.
Triopha is a genus of colorful sea slugs, nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the family Polyceridae.
T. maculata may refer to:
Lomanotus vermiformis is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lomanotidae.
Doriopsilla davebehrensi is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colourful sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dendrodorididae.
Behrens, D.W., 1980, Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington.