Triopha maculata
| Triopha maculata | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | Mollusca
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| Class: | |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura |
| Superfamily: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | T. maculata
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| Binomial name | |
| Triopha maculata MacFarland, 1905
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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.
Distribution[]
This nudibranch lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico. It also lives in Japan.
Description[]
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.
Life habits[]
This species feeds on bryozoans.
A 5 mm juvenile of the yellow form of Triopha maculata in a California tide pool.
A brown individual of Triopha maculata in a Central California tide pool.
Very colorful Triopha maculata at Hazard Reef, Montana de Oro State Park.
References[]
Behrens, D.W., 1980, Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triopha maculata. |
- Sea Slug Forum: [1]
- Polyceridae
- Gastropods described in 1905