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Unlike other sea snails, or even land snails, sea butterflies float and swim freely through the ocean, traveling along with the currents.This has led to a number of evolutionary adaptations in their bodies, including complete or near-complete loss of the shell and the gill in several families.
Pteropoda (common name pteropods, from the Greek meaning "wing-foot") are specialized free-swimming pelagic sea snails and sea slugs, marine opisthobranch gastropods.Most live in the top 10 m of the ocean and are less than 1 cm long.
Determining whether some gastropods should be called sea snails is not always easy. Some species that live in brackish water (such as certain neritids) can be listed as either freshwater snails or marine snails, and some species that live at or just above the high tide level (for example, species in the genus Truncatella) are sometimes considered to be sea snails and sometimes listed as land ...
These snails have adapted themselves to a pelagic living : a transparent body and shell; the foot has evolved into a swimming fin that produces motion through undulation. [3] the proboscis is mobile and can be extended giving it a trunk-like appearance (giving rise to their common name : sea elephants).
Sea angels are gelatinous, mostly transparent, and very small, with the largest species (Clione limacina) reaching 5 cm. C. limacina is a polar species; those found in warmer waters are far smaller. Some species of sea angels feed exclusively on sea butterflies ; the angels have terminal mouths with the radula common to mollusks, and tentacles ...
Etymological meaning of the generic name Limacina is "snail-like". [4] As pelagic marine gastropods, Limacina swim by flapping their parapodia, inspiring the common name sea butterflies. Sea butterflies are part of the clade Thecosomata. Sea angels, similar to Limacina, are in the order Gymnosomata. Both of these orders are still referred to as ...
Limacina helicina is a species of small swimming planktonic sea snail, in the family Limacinidae. It belongs to the group commonly known as sea butterflies (Thecosomata). [7] [8] Limacina helicina is a keystone species of mesozooplankton in Arctic pelagic ecosystems. [9] [10] [11]
The family Cavoliniidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snails, pelagic marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks. [ 1 ] This family is part of a larger group which is commonly known as the sea butterflies because they swim by flapping what appear to be small "wings".