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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.
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.
A species of sea snail in its natural habitat: two individuals of the wentletrap Epidendrium billeeanum with a mass of egg capsules in situ on their food source, a red cup coral. A sea snail Euthria cornea laying eggs. Sea snails are slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone.
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".
1 Description. 2 Distribution. 3 Subfamilies. 4 Genera. 5 References. Toggle the table of contents. ... Cymbuliidae is a family of pelagic sea snails or "sea ...
The mouth contains a long, cylindrical, annulated proboscis and a small tongue. The mantle forms a thin-edged flap over the branchial cavity. On the left side, it has an elongated, open canal, that emerges by a notch or groove in the shell. The two gills are elongated, unequal and pectinate (i.e. in a comb-like arrangement).