Elysia pusilla

Elysia pusilla
Elysia pusilla
Elysia pusilla about 1 cm in length
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Sacoglossa
clade Plakobranchacea

Superfamily: Plakobranchoidea
Family: Plakobranchidae
Genus: Elysia
Species: E. pusilla
Binomial name
Elysia pusilla
(Bergh, 1872)[1]
Synonyms

Elysiella pusilla Bergh, 1872

Elysia pusilla is a species of small sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Plakobranchidae. It is a sacoglossan.

Elysia pusilla feeds on the calcified green alga Halimeda and incorporates functioning chloroplasts into its body, thus it is known as a solar-powered sea slug. It is found in shallow water in tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific wherever its host species grows.

Description

Elysia pusilla is a cryptic sea slug which grows to about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long. Its colour and shape both match that of the alga on which it is feeding; on older foliage it is flattened and a mottled pale green, on fresh new growth it is a brighter shade of green and on the cylindrical shoots that sometimes develop, it adopts a more circular cross section.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bergh, L.S.R. (1872). Malacologische Untersuchungen. In: C.G. Semper, Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen, Wissenschaftliche Resultate. Band 2, Heft 3: 137-176, Pls. 17-20.
  2. ↑ Elysiella pusilla The Sea Slug Forum. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
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