Cavolinia tridentata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Clade: | Euopisthobranchia |
Order: | Pteropoda |
Family: | Cavoliniidae |
Genus: | Cavolinia |
Species: | C. tridentata |
Binomial name | |
Cavolinia tridentata | |
Synonyms | |
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Cavolinia tridentata is a species of sea butterflies, floating and swimming sea snails or sea slugs, pelagic marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cavoliniidae. [2] It is a common species and is wide spread, being found in European waters, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean. It lives in the photic zone of the ocean between 0 to 30m in depth.
Cavolinia tridentata (Forskål, 1775) was originally described as Anomia tridentata by the Finnish Peter Forsskål in 1775, based on specimens he collected in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the Danish Arabia Expedition. [3] In 1791, Danish scientist Peter Christian Abildgaard described the genus Cavolina Abildgaard and included Anomia tridentata in it (as Cavolina natans Abildgaard). [4] A number of other synonyms in the genera Cavolinia, Cleodora and Hyalaea, as well as several forms of this species, have been described. [5] [6]
The maximum recorded shell length is 20 mm. [7]
This species has a large, spherical and brownish shell that is up to 14 mm high, with short lateral spines that are curved downward, a well-separated dorsal apertural lip, and a partially swollen ventral shell. Near the curved apertural margin there are clear transverse striae. The protoconch on the apical spine is straight and pointed. [6]
This marine species is common, with a wide distribution from 43°N (or even ~50°N, and occasionally as far north as 67°N) [6] to 46°S, and from 97°W to 0°W, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico. [5] [6] This distribution includes European waters, the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean (Azores, Cape Verde), the Northwest Atlantic (Gulf of Maine), Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Lesser Antilles, Indian Ocean (Mascarene Basin), the Indo-Pacific and off New Zealand
The species is epipelagic, living in the uppermost layer of ocean between 0-30 m. [5] Its minimum recorded depth is 0 m and its maximum recorded depth is 4791 m. [7]
Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl was a Swedish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.
Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus Siganus, are perciform fishes in the family Siganidae. It is the only extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having prominent face stripes—colloquially called foxfaces–are in the genus Lo. Other species, such as the masked spinefoot, show a reduced form of the stripe pattern. Rabbitfishes are native to shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific, but S. luridus and S. rivulatus have become established in the eastern Mediterranean via Lessepsian migration. They are commercially important food fish, and can be used in the preparation of dishes such as bagoong.
The Schokari sand racer or Forskal sand snake is a species of psammophiid snake found in parts of Asia and Africa. Psammophis aegyptius has at times been considered a subspecies of Psammophis schokari but is presently considered a full species. Many people refer to snakes in the genus Psammophis as colubrids, but this is now known to be incorrect — they were once classified in the Colubridae, but our more sophisticated understanding of the relationships among the groups of snakes has led herpetologists to reclassify Psammophis and its relatives into Lamprophiidae, a family more closely related to Elapidae than to Colubridae.
Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia. It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, but other common names are purple-striped jelly, purple stinger, purple people eater, purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish. In Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea"; in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night"", and lux, "light"; thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate seas, although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, represent closely related but currently unrecognized species.
Siganidae, the rabbitfishes, are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes. The only extant genus is Siganus, the rabbitfish and spinefoot. However, a number of genera are known from fossils.
Pterotrachea is a taxonomic genus of medium-sized to large floating sea slugs, marine pelagic gastropod molluscs in the family Pterotracheidae, which is in the infraorder Littorinimorpha. As such they are quite closely related to such families as the tritons (Ranellidae) and the tun shells (Tonnidae).
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Salvia merjamie is a herbaceous perennial plant that is native to the east African highlands from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and also across the Red Sea in Yemen. It grows between 6,000 and 13,000 feet elevation in grasslands, forest edges, rocky outcrops, basalt slopes, and fallow fields. The specific epithet merjamie is derived from meryamiye, the Arabian common name for the plant, which is shared with other local Salvia species such as Salvia lanigera. The Maasai common name for S. merjamie is Naingungundeu, meaning that the plant smells of rats, though the variety that is common in horticulture is named 'Mint Sauce' and is described as having a strong minty aroma. S. merjamie shares a similar distribution with Salvia nilotica, though they are not known to hybridize.
The reticulate whipray or honeycomb stingray is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It inhabits coastal waters in the western Indian Ocean including the Red Sea, Natal and the Arabian Sea; also a Lessepsian transmigrant in the eastern Mediterranean. A large species reaching 2 m (6.6 ft) in width, the reticulate whipray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc and an extremely long tail without fin folds. Both its common and scientific names refer to its ornate dorsal color pattern of many small, close-set dark spots or reticulations on a lighter background. However, the reticulate whipray is only one of several large spotted stingrays in the Indo-Pacific which, coupled with the variability of its coloration with age and locality, has resulted in a great deal of taxonomic confusion.
The rusty parrotfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish belonging to the family Scaridae. It is associated with reefs in the north western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The family Cavoliniidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snails, pelagic marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.
Monodonta nebulosa is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Monodonta is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Metopograpsus messor is a species of grapsid crab that lives in mangroves from East Africa to Fiji.
Coenobita scaevola is a species of terrestrial hermit crab from the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
Tergipes tergipes is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tergipedidae.
Portunus segnis, the African blue swimming crab, is a species of crustacean, a swimming crab belonging to the family Portunidae. While native to the western Indian Ocean, it is also invasive in the Mediterranean. It is thought to have come through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea but it may have been transported by ships.
Siganus stellatus, the brown-spotted spinefoot, brown-spotted rabbitfish, honeycomb rabbitfish, starspotted spinefoot, starspotted rabbitfish or stellate rabbitfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a rabbitfish belonging to the family Siganidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region.
Cavolinia is a genus of gastropods belonging to the family Cavoliniidae.
Diacavolinia longirostris is a species of sea butterfly. It is a pteropod.
Media related to Cavolinia tridentata at Wikimedia Commons