Hexabranchus morsomus

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Hexabranchus morsomus
Hexabranchus morsomus.png
dorsal view of Hexabranchus morsomus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Family: Hexabranchidae
Genus: Hexabranchus
Species:
H. morsomus
Binomial name
Hexabranchus morsomus
Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1962 [1]
Synonyms [2]

Caribranchus morsomus (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1962)

Contents

Hexabranchus morsomus, also known as the Caribbean Spanish Dancer, [3] is a species of sea slug, a marine mollusc in the family Hexabranchidae. [4] [2]

Distribution

It occurs in the Caribbean Sea including waters around St. Kitts and the Netherlands Antilles, [5] and has also been identified in Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, St. Lucia, Martinique, Antigua, Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, [3] Aruba, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten. [6]

Description

Body is oval to elongate. [6] Dorsum is small with conical tubercles. [6] Rhinophores are club shaped. [6] Gill is large, composed of several multi-pinnated leaves. [6] Background color is reddish with mottled white and yellow patches on the dorsum. [6] Mantle margin usually curled up over small portion of dorsum covering white areas. [6] It is up to 400 mm long. [6]

Ecology

It is found under rocks or coral rubble, primarily on living reefs. [6] Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. [7] Maximum recorded depth is 33 m. [7] Defensive behavior consists of the unrolling of the mantle margins to expose bright white areas followed by swimming by contracting the body and mantle margin. [6] Species of the genus Hexabranchus prey on a variety of sponges. [6]

Further reading

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0) text from the reference [6]

  1. ↑ Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus (1962). "Opisthobranchs from Florida and the Virgin Islands". Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean . 12 (3): 450–488.
  2. 1 2 Gofas, S. (2013). Hexabranchus morsomus Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1962. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=549228 on 2014-01-01
  3. 1 2 Valdés, Ángel; Hamann, Jeff; Behrens, David W.; DuPont, Anne. Caribbean Sea Slugs, Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Etc., Gig Harbor, Washington 2006, pp. 116-117. ISBN   0-9700574-2-3
  4. ↑ PNAS, Nudibranch Taxonomy, accessed 1 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Rudman W. B. (2002, September 8) "Hexabranchus morsomus Marcus, 1962". Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney, accessed 22 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Goodheart J. A., Ellingson R. A., Vital X. G., Galvão Filho H. C., McCarthy J. B., Medrano S. M., Bhave V. J., García-Méndez K., Jiménez L. M., López G. & Hoover C. A. (2016). "Identification guide to the heterobranch sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Bocas del Toro, Panama". Marine Biodiversity Records9(1), p.56. doi : 10.1186/s41200-016-0048-z
  7. 1 2 Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
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