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Phyllodesmium longicirrum

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Species of gastropod

Phyllodesmium longicirrum
Phyllodesmium longicirrum, head end towards the lower left, crawling on its prey the soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Cladobranchia
Family: Myrrhinidae
Genus: Phyllodesmium
Species: P. longicirrum
Binomial name
Phyllodesmium longicirrum
(Bergh, 1905)
Synonyms
  • Myrrhine longicirra
  • Phyllodesmium longicirra

Phyllodesmium longicirrum, common name the solar-powered phyllodesmium, is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.

Phyllodesmium longicirrum crawling on the soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum.

Distribution

The distribution of Phyllodesmium longicirrum includes Australia and Indonesia.

Description

This is a very large species, growing to at least 140 mm. Phyllodesmium longicirrum contains photosynthetic zooxanthellae, which allow it to draw energy from sunlight, hence its common name, the solar-powered phyllodesmium. This is actually a misleading name, as several other species of Phyllodesmium are also capable of photosynthesis, although this is developed to the greatest extreme in this species.

A closeup of the nudibranch, showing the clusters of zooxanthellae

Ecology

Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeds on soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum (family Alcyoniidae).

References

  1. Bouchet, P. (2015). Phyllodesmium longicirrum. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-10-07
  2. ^ Rudman, W.B., 1998 (October 11) Phyllodesmium longicirrum (Bergh, 1905). Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  3. Rudman W. B. (1981). "The anatomy and biology of alcyonarian-feeding aeolid opisthobranch molluscs and their development of symbiosis with zooxanthellae". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 72(3): 219-262. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1981.tb01571.x.
  4. Rudman W. B. (1991). "Further studies on the taxonomy and biology of the octocoral-feeding genus Phyllodesmium Ehrenberg, 1831 (Nudibranchia: Aeolidacea)". Journal of Molluscan Studies 57(2): 167–203. abstract.
  5. Rudman, W.B., 1998 (October 11) Solar-powered sea slugs. Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

External links

Taxon identifiers
Phyllodesmium longicirrum
Myrrhine longicirra
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