Phylliroidae

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Phylliroidae
A drawing of Phylliroe bucephalum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Dendronotida
Superfamily: Tritonioidea
Family: Phylliroidae
Menke, 1830
Genera
  • Cephalopyge Hanel, 1905
  • Phylliroe Peron and Lesueur, 1810

The Phylliroidae are a family of nudibranch sea snails, highly adapted to a pelagic lifestyle and occurring in tropical surface waters around the globe. The two species of the genus Phylliroe and Cephalopyge trematoides that have been assigned to this family are small to average in size (up to 5.5 centimetres or 2.2 inches), slender and highly transparent. They swim by undulating their whole body. Their foot is very small, which helps to reduce drag. They are carnivores that prey on planktonic jelly fish.[1]

References

  1. Lalli, Carol M.; Gilmer, Ronald W. (1989). Pelagic Snails: The Biology of Holoplanktonic Gastropod Mollusks. Stanford University Press. 

Further reading

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