Chelidonura hirundinina
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Chelidonura hirundinina (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833) |
Chelidonura hirundinina is a species of small and colorful aglajid sea slug, a shell-less opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aglajidae.
This is not a nudibranch, it is a cephalaspidean, a headshield slug.
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[edit] Distribution
This is a tropical species which lives in the western Indo-Pacific, and also in the Caribbean Sea.
[edit] Description
This species has a maximum size of 40 mm, but is often smaller than that. The background color can be red, orange, dark brown, or black. There are blue, black, and orange stripes on the body, and there is a white marking towards the posterior end of the animal.
The two rather long "tails" at the end of the animal are characteristic of the genus Chelidonura. The specific epithet hirundinina is Latin, meaning "little swallow", in reference to this swallow-tailed appearance.
[edit] Life habits
This species eats flatworms.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Valdez, Hamann, Berhrens & DuPont, 2006, Caribbean sea slugs: a field guide to the opisthobranch mollusks from the tropical northwestern Atlantic, Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Washington
[edit] External links
- Sea Slug Forum: [1]