Melibe viridis

Melibe viridis is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tethydidae.^[4]

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Melibe viridis

Melibe viridis, anterior end at the front with the large rounded oral hood
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Nudibranchia
Suborder:	Dendronotacea
Family:	Tethydidae
Genus:	Melibe
Species:	M. viridis
Binomial name
*Melibe viridis* (Kelaart, 1858)
Synonyms^[1]
Melibe fimbriata Alder & Hancock, 1864 Melibe rangi Bergh, 1875 Melibe vexillifera Bergh, 1880 Propomelibe mirifica Allan, 1932^[2] Melibe mirifica Allan, 1932 Melibe japonica Eliot, 1913^[3] Melibe fimbriata Alder & Hancock, 1864

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Distribution

This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea off Phuket, off Mozambique and off Indonesia. Its habitat is sandy and muddy areas between 3 m and 15 m deep.

Description

The body reaches a length of 140 mm. Like some other nudibranch species, M. viridis has an oral veil that it uses to trap prey.^[5]^[6]^[7] This species has a particular morphology that easily distinguishes it from other nudibranchs. The body is elongated, beige to brown in color. The Melibe has a number of pairs of ceratas along the body, each of which acts as a gill. The ceratas are often darker in color than the body, sometimes with an orange apical part, their size decreasing towards the anterior part.

References

[1]
Gosliner T. M. & Smith V. G. (2003). "Systematic review and phylogenetic analysis of the nudibranch genus Melibe (Opistobranchia: Dendronotacea) with descriptions of three new species". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 54: 302–355. PDF.
[2]
Allan J. K. (1932). "A new genus and species of sea-slug, and two new species of sea-hares from Australia". Records of the Australian Museum 18(6): 314–320.
[3]
Eliot C. N. E. (1913). "Japanese nudibranchs". Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo Imp. University, 35: 1–47. Plates 1-2.
[4]
"WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Melibe viridis (Kelaart, 1858)". www.marinespecies.org.
[5]
Wyeth, Russell C.; Willows, A. O. Dennis (April 2006). "Field Behavior of the Nudibranch Mollusc Tritonia diomedea". The Biological Bulletin. 210 (2): 81–96. doi:10.2307/4134598. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 4134598. PMID 16641514. S2CID 877812.
[6]
"nudibranch with large cerata and hood veil and papillae or low conical tubercle". seaslugs.free.fr. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
[7]
Rudman, W. B. (2010-07-15). "The Sea Slug Forum - Melibe viridis". www.seaslugforum.net. New South Wales: Australian Museum. Retrieved 2021-12-06.

MacNae, W. & M. Kalk (eds) (1958). A natural history of Inhaca Island, Mozambique. Witwatersrand Univ. Press, Johannesburg. I-iv, 163 pp.
Gosliner T.M. (1987) Review of the nudibranch genus Melibe (Opisthobranchia: Dendronotacea) with descriptions of two new species. The Veliger 29(4): 400–414
Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213
Streftaris, N.; Zenetos, A.; Papathanassiou, E. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev. 43: 419–453
Gosliner T.M. & Smith V.G. (2003) Systematic review and phylogenetic analysis of the nudibranch genus Melibe (Opisthobranchia: Dendronotacea) with descriptions of three new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 54: 302–356.
Gosliner T.M., Behrens D.W. & Valdés A. (2008) Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs. Sea Challengers Natural History Books and California Academy of Sciences. 426 pp.

Distribution

Description

References

External links

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