- Dwarf sea hare
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Dwarf sea hare
Aplysia parvula
Aplysia parvula Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda (unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Euopisthobranchia
clade AplysiomorphaSuperfamily: Aplysioidea Family: Aplysiidae Genus: Aplysia Species: A. parvula Binomial name Aplysia parvula
Guilding in Mørch, 1863[1]The dwarf sea hare or pygmy sea hare, Aplysia parvula, is a species of sea slug, specifically a sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares.
Contents
Distribution
This is a circumtropical sea hare. It usually occurs in less than 5 m of water, but is occasionally found in water as deep as 24 m.[2]
The type locality of Aplysia parvula is Saint Vincent, Lesser Antilles.[1]
Description
The dwarf sea hare is round-bodied and smooth-skinned with a slender head bearing extensions which resemble rabbit ears. There are wing-like flaps (parapodia) extending from the body, which is brown to maroon or olive green in colour and may be covered with clusters of white spots.[3]
The maximum recorded length is 60 mm.[4]
The length is up to 7 cm.[citation needed]
the dwarf sea hare with its egg ribbon
Ecology
Minimum recorded depth is 0.5 m.[4] Maximum recorded depth is 30 m.[4]
The species is a herbivore, and feeds on different types of algae. Its egg mass is a tangled mass of sticky orange, green or brown strings found under rocks or among algae.[3]
References
- ^ a b Mørch O. A. (1863). "Contributions la faune malacologique des Antilles danoises". Journal de Conchyliologie 11: 21-43.
- ^ Zsilavecz G. (2007). Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. ISBN 0-620-38054-3
- ^ a b Gosliner T. M. (1987). Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
- ^ a b c 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.
External links
- Aplysia parvula at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website.
- Rogers C. N., de Nys R. & Steinberg P. D. (2003). "Ecology of the sea hare Aplysia parvula (Opisthobranchia) in New South Wales, Australia". Molluscan Research 23(3): 185-198. doi:10.1071/MR03004, PDF.
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