Triopha maculata
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| Triopha maculata | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Triopha maculata MacFarland, 1905 |
Triopha maculata, common name speckled triopha, is a species of nudibranch sea slug, a shell-less marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae. This species is very variable in color.
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[edit] Distribution
This nudibranch lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico. It also lives in Japan.
[edit] Description
Triopha maculata can sometimes (rarely) grow as large as 180 mm, or a little more than 7 inches, but usually the maximum length is 50 mm or about 2 inches.
The color can be a very pale and translucent yellow, or it can be a darker yellow, orange, or red and even dark brown. There are always raised whitish spots, hence the name maculata.
[edit] Life habits
This species feeds on bryozoans.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
Behrens, D.W., 1980, Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington.
[edit] External links
- Sea Slug Forum: [1]
