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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 ...
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".
The snails are a unique part of the neuston, organisms which live on or near the surface of the water, because of their relatively large size. They have veliger , or free swimming larvae, but the adults do not swim, and cannot create their rafts, except at the surface where air bubbles are available.
Limacina retroversa is a distinct species of swimming planktonic gastropods, belonging to a group of predatory sea snails known as sea butterflies (Thecosomata). The name Limacina retroversa describes the unique morphology of this sea snail, including its slug-like body and coiled, backwards-turning shell. They are typically found in the ...