Marsenina uchidai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marsenina uchidai | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Family: | Velutinidae |
| Genus: | Marsenina |
| Species: | M. uchidai |
| Binomial name | |
| Marsenina uchidai Habe, T. 1958 | |
Marsenina uchidai is a species of velutinid, a type of gastropod, and appears outwardly similar to a dorid nudibranch. However, it has an internal shell hidden by the mantle. It inhabits Asian boreal waters off of Japan and Russia.[1]
Adult
It appears similar to other Marsenina species such as Marsenina stearnsii, except that it is more brightly colored, with a spotted brownish-yellow mantle with a slit in the middle, covering the translucent white ear-shaped shell.[2] Its head has two head tentacles with eyespots at the base, typical of velutinid gastropods. Like other Marsenina species, it is a simultaneous hermaphrodite. The penis of this species is described as "beaked, slightly bent" with a "crest above the bend".[1]
Shell
The shell is fragile, with a low spiral that arcs upwards for 3.5 convex whorls.[1] The final whorl has a long descending shoulder. Like other Marsenina shells, the only surface markings are thin growth lines. The aperture is wide and downwardly oblique. The type specimen shell measures 10 x 13.7 mm.[3]
Range
M. uchidai is a boreal species, known from the Bering Sea (Bering Island), Sea of Okhotsk, southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Sea of Japan (recorded on Bolshoi Pelis Island,[4] part of the Rimsky-Korsakov Archipelago), and the North Pacific (Hokkaido, Japan). It is common in the Sea of Japan on the coasts of Sakhalin and Primorsky Krai.[5]