Soft black star snail
| Soft black star snail | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soft waxy star snail ( Acanthodoris pilosa ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acanthodoris pilosa | ||||||||||||
| ( Abildgaard in OF Muller , 1789) |
The soft-waxy star snail ( Acanthodoris pilosa ) is a species from the subordination of the nudibranch , which belongs to the snails and thus to the tribe of mollusks . Like many other nudibranchs, the star snail is popularly referred to as the “underwater nudibranch”.
homeland
This snail is native to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, as well as its side seas, the English Channel, the North Sea and the western Baltic Sea. There you can find them on hard floors, mollusc shells and algae. They are seen from the intertidal zone downwards.
Appearance
Like many other nudibranch snails, the white, gray or dark brown soft waxy star snail has a plump and oval body with two retractable, lamellar antennae, the rhinophores . These antennae are framed by flat, pointed-toothed collars. The back is covered with a multitude of pointed processes (papillae), the anus is surrounded by a ring of gills. The animal reaches a length of five centimeters.
Way of life
The snail is an extreme food specialist - its menu consists only of moss animals from the genera Flustrellidra and Alcyondium . No other food is accepted.
literature
- Bruno P. Kremer and Klaus Janke: Marine nudibranchs. Notes on the Biology of a Colorful Society. In: Biologie in our time 18, 1988, 3, ISSN 0045-205X , pp. 81-88.
