Navanax inermis

Navanax inermis
From Catalina Island, California
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Euopisthobranchia clade Cephalaspidea
Superfamily:	Philinoidea
Family:	Aglajidae
Genus:	Navanax
Species:	N. inermis
Binomial name
Navanax inermis (Cooper, 1863)

Navanax inermis is a species of predatory sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aglajidae and the order Cephalaspidea, the headshield slugs and bubble snails.

Navanax inermis

It has been suggested that this species should be moved to the genus Aglaja, but the name Navanax is still used in many of the popular works on mollusks.

Navanax is not a nudibranch, even though it somewhat resembles one; it belongs to a more ancient group of opisthobranchs.

Distribution

This species occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range is from Bolinas Lagoon, California, in the north, to Laguna Manuela and to Jalisco^[1] in Mexico, in the south, including the Gulf of California^[2].

Description

This species can reach a total length of more than 22 cm.^[3].

Life habits

Navanax inermis is a voracious predator, feeding on various sea slugs and bubble snails of the order Cephalaspidea, as well as nudibranchs such as Hermissenda crassicornis, Polycera atra, and Dirona picta. It uses chemoreceptors to track the slime trails of prey, and of potential mates.

Like all other Opisthobranchs, it is hermaphroditic.

References

1. ^ Zamora-Silva A. & Naranjo-García E. (2008) "Los opistobranquios de la Colección Nacional de Moluscos". Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 79: 333-342. PDF
2. ^ "Navanax inermis". The Slugsite. http://slugsite.us/bow/nudwk23.htm. Retrieved 24 April 2006. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Navanax inermis". The Sea Slug Forum. http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=navainer. Retrieved 24 April 2006.