Intertidal Invertebrates of the Monterey Bay Area, California
Compiled & photographed by Gary McDonald, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz
Scott Creek, Santa Cruz Co., CA; 10 Dec 2008; 22mm total length.
Description: Dorsum greyish-white, may be sprinkled with tiny flecks of yellow and dark brown to black, with numerous large black tipped papillae, often with outer yellow band and inner black band around margin of dorsum. Rhinophores long with about 13-23 lamellae, often with brown to black near tip. Branchial plumes 5, bi- and tripinnate, greyish-white, often tipped with deep yellow or brown to black.
Size: Typically less than 30mm in length.
Notes: Jeff Goddard reports that it feeds on the bryozoan Alcyonidium sp.
Scott Creek, Santa Cruz Co., CA; 10 Dec 2008; 22mm total length.
Sunset Palisades, San Luis Obispo Co., CA; 28 Dec 1971; 24mm total length.
La Jolla, San Diego Co., CA; 25 June 1975; 14mm total length.
Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co., CA; 17 Oct 1971; 11mm total length.
Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co., CA; 11 Nov 1973; 9mm total length.