Dorididae, Rafinesque, 1815

Goddard, Jeffrey H. R., Treneman, Nancy, Prestholdt, Tara, Hoover, Craig, Green, Brenna, Pence, William E., Mason, Douglas E., Dobry, Phillip, Sones, Jacqueline L., Sanford, Eric, Agarwal, Robin, McDonald, Gary R., Johnson, Rebecca F. & Gosliner, Terrence M., 2018, Heterobranch Sea Slug Range Shifts in the Northeast Pacific Ocean associated with the 2015 - 16 El Niño, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 65 (3), pp. 107-131 : 114

Dorididae

Doris cf. pickensi Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus, 1967 . Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co., California, 7 specimens, on encrusting yellow sponge, 4 m depth near T Pier, 25 May 2016 ( Fig. 2A ) (observed by CH) to La Jolla, California (observed by JG, CASIZ 186472); northern Gulf of California (Marcus and Marcus 1967) to Costa Rica ( Camacho-García et al. 2005).

Previous northernmost locality: Naples, Santa Barbara Co., California (Goddard and Green 2013; Goddard 2017) .

Remarks: A specimen found by CH in Morro Bay laid a flat egg ribbon identical to that described by Goddard and Green (2013, p. 57) for this species from Santa Barbara County.

With their uniform yellow coloration and lack of dark pigmentation, up to 15 unipinnate gills, low rounded spiculate dorsal papillae, triangular labial tentacles, and hamate radular teeth (for images see Goddard 2017b), specimens of this species from California differ from all other yellow dorid nudibranchs known from the Northeast Pacific Ocean and may be undescribed. They are closest to Doris pickensi originally described by Marcus and Marcus (1967) and redescribed by Camacho-García and Gosliner (2008), but need to be fully compared – including with molecular genetics – with specimens from the vicinity of the type locality of that species at Puerto Peñasco in the northern Gulf of California to resolve their identity.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Nudibranch sea slugs found at new northern localities in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, 2015–2017. A Doris cf. pickensi, Morro Bay, California, 25 May 2016. Image by CH. B Doriopsilla albopunctata, Whiskey Creek, Curry Co., Oregon, 19 May 2017. Image by NT. C Doriopsilla fulva, Netarts Bay, Oregon, 16 July 2016. Image by Todd Cliff. D Hermissenda opalescens, Box Canyon, Neah Bay, Washington, 20 August 2015. Image by Doug Miller.