Elysia catulus

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Elysia catulus
Elysia catulus.jpg
Scientific classification
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E. catulus
Binomial name
Elysia catulus
(Gould, 1870) [1]

Elysia catulus is a small species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. This sea slug resembles a nudibranch, but it is not closely related to that order of gastropods, instead it is a sacoglossan. The specific name "catulus" comes from the Greek and means "little cat", referring to the superficial resemblance that the head of this slug bears to the head of a cat. [2]

Contents

Description

Elysia catulus grows to about 6 millimetres (0.24 in) in length. The body is mainly black but this is tinged with green as the gut contents can be seen through the skin. There are three white streaks on the head, one central and the other two running diagonally past the eye. There are also two or three white patches on the parapodia, the fleshy protrusions on either side of the body. [2]

Distribution

Elysia catulus feeds on the seagrass Zostera and is found in seagrass meadows on the eastern seaboard of North America from Nova Scotia south to South Carolina. [2]

Biology

Elysia catulus has a short life cycle, living for less than a year. Spawning takes place in June and July and the adults die soon afterwards. The larvae that hatch from the eggs form part of the zooplankton and disperse widely. After settling, the juveniles grow rapidly. This may be linked to the fact that they develop cerata (hornlike outgrowths). These provide an increase in digestive and respiratory surface area which allows increased rates of metabolism and consequently growth. There are considerable fluctuations in population size and a sudden increase may be due to the arrival of larvae that have originated elsewhere. [3] Juveniles are found in the safety of the inrolled margins of the Zostera leaf whereas adults feed on the flat leaf blades. Feeding is done by puncturing the plant's tissue with the radular tooth and sucking out the cell sap. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are actually gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails that over evolutionary time have either completely lost their shells, or have seemingly lost their shells due to having a greatly reduced or internal shell. The name "sea slug" is most often applied to nudibranchs, as well as to a paraphyletic set of other marine gastropods without obvious shells.

Veliger

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Elysia subornata is a species of small sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Plakobranchidae.

<i>Elysia chlorotica</i> Species of gastropod

Elysia chlorotica is a small-to-medium-sized species of green sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusc. This sea slug superficially resembles a nudibranch, yet it does not belong to that clade of gastropods. Instead it is a member of the clade Sacoglossa, the sap-sucking sea slugs. Some members of this group use chloroplasts from the algae they eat for photosynthesis, a phenomenon known as kleptoplasty. Elysia chlorotica is one of these "solar-powered sea slugs". It lives in a subcellular endosymbiotic relationship with chloroplasts of the marine heterokont alga Vaucheria litorea.

<i>Elysia</i> (gastropod) Genus of gastropods

Elysia is a genus of sea slugs, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Plakobranchidae. These animals are colorful sea slugs, and they can superficially resemble nudibranchs, but are not very closely related to them. Instead they are sacoglossans, commonly known as sap-sucking slugs.

<i>Elysia ornata</i> Species of gastropod

Elysia ornata, commonly known as ornate elysia or ornate leaf slug, is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk. This sea slug superficially resembles a nudibranch, yet it does not belong to that suborder of gastropods. Instead it is a member of the closely related clade Sacoglossa, the "sap-sucking" sea slugs.

<i>Peltodoris atromaculata</i>

Peltodoris atromaculata, more commonly known as the dotted sea slug or sea cow, is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae. It dwells in salt water up to the depth of 40m. It is exclusively found in precorralligene and coralligene communities and is very common in such communities. 

<i>Tritonicula hamnerorum</i>

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<i>Elysia gordanae</i> Species of gastropod

Elysia gordanae is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc.

Elysia lobata is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. This sea slug resembles a nudibranch, but it is not closely related to that order of gastropods, instead it is a sacoglossan.

<i>Elysia obtusa</i> Species of gastropod

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<i>Elysia diomedea</i> Species of gastropod

Elysia diomedea is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae.

Elysia trisinuata is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. This sea slug resembles a nudibranch but is not closely related to that order of gastropods, instead belonging to another clade, Sacoglossa, the "sap-sucking" sea slugs.

Elysia rufescens is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. This sea slug resembles a nudibranch but is not classified in that order of gastropods, instead belonging to a closely related clade, Sacoglossa, the "sap-sucking" sea slugs. This species was first described by Pease from Tahiti in 1871.

Halophila engelmannii is a species of seagrass in the Hydrocharitaceae family. It is referred to by the common names star grass and Engelmann's seagrass and grows underwater on shallow sandy or muddy sea floors. It is native to the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Gulf Coast of the United States, the Gulf Coast of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Elysia serca, the seagrass elysia or Caribbean seagrass elysia, is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. Although this sea slug resembles a nudibranch, it is not a nudibranch; it belongs to the clade, Sacoglossa, the "sap-sucking" sea slugs. It was first described by Marcus in 1955 from specimens found in Brazil.

<i>Okenia zoobotryon</i>

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<i>Berghia stephanieae</i> Species of gastropod

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<i>Elysia grandifolia</i> Species of gastropod

Elysia grandifolia is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae native to the waters off southern India and Sri Lanka. It has colonised the waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Electra posidoniae</i> Species of bryozoan (marine moss animal)

Electra posidoniae is a species of bryozoan in the family Electridae. It is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, and is commonly known as the Neptune-grass bryozoan because it is exclusively found growing on seagrasses, usually on Neptune grass, but occasionally on eelgrass.

References

  1. Rosenberg, Gary (2010). "Elysia catulus (Gould, 1870)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  2. 1 2 3 Elysia catulus (Gould, 1870) The Sea Slug Forum. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  3. Clark, K. B. (1975). "Nudibranch life cycles in the Northwest Atlantic and their relationship to the ecology of fouling communities". Helgoland Marine Research. 27 (1): 28–69. doi: 10.1007/BF01611686 .
  4. Elysia serca Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. Retrieved-2012-01-28.