White-lined Dirona ( Intertidal Nudibranchs of the Monterey Bay Area, California)

White-lined Dirona

Dirona albolineata MacFarland in Cockerell & Eliot, 1905

Description ²

Ground color translucent whitish. Cerata lanceolate, translucent whitish, pale salmon or pale purple; with an opaque white line on lateral margin of each. Frontal veil bears a band of opaque white along anterior margin, and crest of tail bears a similar line medially. Rhinophores bear 16-20 lamellae; inner face of rhinophore shaft bears an opaque white line, starting just below clavus, passing down shaft, between rhinophores and up opposite shaft. Large individuals may have a few small opaque white flecks on body and cerata.

Size ²

Typically about 25mm in length, but individuals up to 180mm have been reported.

Geographic Range ²

Kachemak Bay, AK, to San Diego, CA; Barent's Sea, Russia; Japan.

Notes ²

Preys on bryozoans, hydroids, small crustaceans, sponges, barnacles, and tunicates, as well as the snails Margarites pupillus, Margarites helicinus, & Lacuna carinata.

References ²

MACFARLAND, F. M. 1912. The nudibranch family Dironidae. Festschrift zum Sechzigsten Geburtstage des Herrn Geheimen Hofrats Prof. Dr. Johann Wilhelm Spengel in Giessen. Zoologische Jahrbücher Supplement 15(1):515-536, pls. 30-32. PDF

MACFARLAND, F. M. 1966. Studies of opisthobranchiate mollusks of the Pacific coast of North America. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 6:1-546, pls. 1-72. PDF

McDONALD, G. R. 1983. A review of the nudibranchs of the California coast. Malacologia 24(1-2):114-276. PDF

ROBILLIARD, G. A. 1971b. Predation by the nudibranch Dirona albolineata on three species of prosobranchs. Pacific Science 25(3):429-435. PDF

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF MARINE INVERTEBRATE TAXONOMISTS. 2018. A taxonomic listing of benthic macro- and megainvertebrates from infaunal & epibenthic monitoring and research programs in the southern California bight, edition 12, 1 July 2018, xviii + 167 pp. PDF