Stylocheilus
| Stylocheilus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stylocheilus striatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Euopisthobranchia clade Aplysiomorpha P. Fischer, 1883 |
| Superfamily: | Aplysioidea |
| Family: | Aplysiidae |
| Genus: | Stylocheilus Gould, 1852 |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Stylocheilus (Gould, 1852) is a genus of sea slugs, specifically sea hares, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares. According to some authors this genus belongs in the family Dolabriferidae.
A general description can be found on the page of the superfamily Aplysioidea.
Species
Species in the genus Stylocheilus include:
- Stylocheilus longicauda Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 : Blue-ring Sea Hare, Lemon Sea Hare (used to be called Stylocheilus citrina)
- Distribution : circumtropical, Indo-West Pacific.
- Color : bright yellow or green with bluish eyespots, no lines.
- Description : This is one of the most specialized sea hares; elongate body with a long "tail" (as stated by its name longicauda), adapted for living on floating seaweed; feeds on Mermaid's Hair, blue-green algae of species Lynghya majuscula; at times, they are abundant, with several thousands crawling in the sand, traveling in chains ("snail trail") up to 10 m long
- Stylocheilus striatus Quoy & Gaimard, 1832
- Distribution : circumtropical; intertidal, occurs up to 30 m depth
- Length : 65 mm
- Color : brownish, with blue spots; lined species, with dark longitudinal lines (as stated by its name striatus) and small eyespots, providing excellent camouflage.
- Description : Feeds on blue-green algae; gives off a purple ink when disturbed.
- Species brought into synonymy
- Stylocheilus citrinus (Rang, 1828): synonym of Stylocheilus longicauda (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
References
External links
- SEM images of the radula can be found at Thompson; Bebbington (1973). "Scanning electron microscope studies of gastropod radulae". Malacologia. 14: 147–165.
- Image of the Blue-ring Sea Hare
- 'Snail trail' of the Blue-ring Sea Hare
- Image of Stylocheilus striatus
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