Melibe viridis

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Melibe viridis
Melibe mirifica.jpg
Melibe viridis, anterior end at the front with the large rounded oral hood
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Cladobranchia
Family: Tethydidae
Genus: Melibe
Species:
M. viridis
Binomial name
Melibe viridis
(Kelaart, 1858)
Synonyms [1]
  • Melibe fimbriataAlder & Hancock, 1864
  • Melibe rangiBergh, 1875
  • Melibe vexilliferaBergh, 1880
  • Propomelibe mirificaAllan, 1932 [2]
  • Melibe mirificaAllan, 1932
  • Melibe japonica Eliot, 1913 [3]
  • Melibe fimbriataAlder & Hancock, 1864

Melibe viridis is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tethydidae. [4]

Contents

Distribution

This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea off Phuket, off Mozambique and off Indonesia. Its habitat is sandy and muddy areas between 3 m and 15 m deep.

Description

Melibe viridis with extended oral veil Emperor shrimp on Melibe viridis (45202050414).jpg
Melibe viridis with extended oral veil

The body reaches a length of 140 mm. Like some other nudibranch species, M. viridis has an oral veil that it uses to trap prey. [5] [6] [7] This species has a particular morphology that easily distinguishes it from other nudibranchs. The body is elongated, beige to brown in color. The Melibe has a number of pairs of ceratas along the body, each of which acts as a gill. The ceratas are often darker in color than the body, sometimes with an orange apical part, their size decreasing towards the anterior part.

References

  1. Gosliner T. M. & Smith V. G. (2003). "Systematic review and phylogenetic analysis of the nudibranch genus Melibe (Opistobranchia: Dendronotacea) with descriptions of three new species". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences54: 302–355. PDF.
  2. Allan J. K. (1932). "A new genus and species of sea-slug, and two new species of sea-hares from Australia". Records of the Australian Museum18(6): 314–320.
  3. Eliot C. N. E. (1913). "Japanese nudibranchs". Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo Imp. University, 35: 1–47. Plates 1-2.
  4. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Melibe viridis (Kelaart, 1858)". www.marinespecies.org.
  5. Wyeth, Russell C.; Willows, A. O. Dennis (April 2006). "Field Behavior of the Nudibranch Mollusc Tritonia diomedea" . The Biological Bulletin. 210 (2): 81–96. doi:10.2307/4134598. ISSN   0006-3185. JSTOR   4134598. PMID   16641514. S2CID   877812.
  6. "nudibranch with large cerata and hood veil and papillae or low conical tubercle". seaslugs.free.fr. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  7. Rudman, W. B. (2010-07-15). "The Sea Slug Forum - Melibe viridis". www.seaslugforum.net. New South Wales: Australian Museum. Retrieved 2021-12-06.