Eubranchidae
| Eubranchidae | ||||||||||||
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Eubranchus sp. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eubranchidae | ||||||||||||
| Odhner , 1934 |
The Eubranchidae are a family of thread snails in the suborder of the nudibranchs . The mostly small, exclusively marine caseless snails eat mainly hydrozoa .
features
The Eubranchidae have a slender body. There are two mouth feelers in the front, but they are usually much shorter than the smooth rhinophores above the head . The back is covered with simple or branched rows of thickened cerata with ring-shaped constrictions and nodules , into which, as in other thread snails, extensions of the midgut gland lead. The runners end in so-called nettle sacks (also cnido sacks), in which the nettle capsules of the cnidarians that are eaten are stored and serve to defend the snails against predators.
The rectangular posterior teeth of the three-row radula have a single cusp. The jaws have smooth or serrated edges. The anus opens on the back in the gap between the cerata rows, which are supplied by the right and left lobes of the midgut gland.
Like other thread snails, the Eubranchidae are hermaphrodites . They have an unarmed penis, a bursa copulatrix, which takes in the sperm of the sex partner, and a fertilization chamber. The snails mate with each other and lay gelatinous egg clutches, in whose transparent shell you can see the numerous eggs. Veliger larvae hatch from these and feed on plankton and after a long pelagic phase they metamorphose into small thread snails .
The Eubranchidae eat cnidarians, especially hydrozoan polyps.
Some types
Snails of the Eubranchidae family are found in cold, temperate and warm seas around the world. In the North Sea, the family is represented by the balloon thread snail ( Eubranchus exiguus ), the orange dotted balloon thread snail ( Eubranchus farrani ) and the pale thread snail ( Eubranchus pallidus ).
Systematics
According to Bouchet and Rocroi (2005), the Eubranchidae family is one of five families in the superfamily Fionoidea . The family includes nine genera:
- Aenigmastyletus Martynov, 1998
- Amphorina Quatrefages, 1844
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Dunga
- Dunga ocellata (Alder & Hancock, 1864)
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Eubranchopsis
- Eubranchopsis virginalis Baba, 1949
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Eubranchus Forbes, 1838
- Eubranchus agrius (O'Donoghue, 1922)
- Eubranchus columbianus (O'Donoghue, 1922)
- Eubranchus coniclus (Er. Marcus, 1958)
- Eubranchus doriae (Trinchese, 1874)
- Eubranchus echizenicus Baba, 1975
- Eubranchus exiguus (Alder and Hancock, 1848)
- Eubranchus farrani (Alder and Hancock, 1844)
- Eubranchus horii Baba, 1960
- Eubranchus inabai Baba, 1964
- Eubranchus misakiensis Baba, 1960
- Eubranchus olivaceus (O'Donoghue, 1922)
- Eubranchus pallidus (Alder and Hancock, 1842)
- Eubranchus rubeolus Burn, 1964
- Eubranchus rubropunctatus Edmunds, 1969
- Eubranchus rustyus (Er. Marcus, 1961)
- Eubranchus sanjuanensis Roller, 1972
- Eubranchus steinbecki Behrens, 1987
- Eubranchus tricolor Forbes, 1838
- Eubranchus vittatus (Alder and Hancock, 1842)
- Galvina Alder & Hancock, 1855
- Galvinella Eliot, 1907
- Leostyletus Martynov, 1998
- Nudibranchus Martynov, 1998
literature
- Luise Schmekel, Adolf Portmann: Opisthobranchia of the Mediterranean: Nudibranchia and Saccoglossa . Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1982. Eubranchidae : 237.
- Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . Malacologia, 47: 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005 ISSN 0076-2997
