Spanish scarf
| Spanish scarf | ||||||||||||
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Spanish scarf ( Flabellina iodinea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Flabellina iodinea | ||||||||||||
| ( Cooper , 1863) |
The Spanish scarf ( Flabellina iodinea ) is a thread snail from the family Flabellinidae , which is native to the Pacific coast of North America . It belongs to the subordination of the nudibranchia (Nudibranchia).
description
The up to 7 cm long Flabellina iodinea is striking because of its bright colors: the body is purple, the cerata orange and the rhinophores , with which the snail perceives sexual partners and prey, scarlet red. Like other thread snails, it stores kleptocnidae , unexploded nettle capsules from eaten hydroid polyps, in its cerata on its back . In addition, Flabellina iodinea breathes with her cerata. The bright colors are formed by the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin , which produces the three colors in three modifications and comes from the tentacles of eaten hydroid polyps of Eudendrium ramosum . The conspicuous coloring serves as a warning color for the snail stinging by the kleptocnids, but is a camouflage on similarly colored prey.
When threatened, the snail is able to push itself off the ground by bending its body and swim away into free water.
The Spanish scarf is a hermaphrodite , but self-fertilization is very rare. Rather, two animals mate with each other.
nutrition
As a food specialist, Flabellina iodinea eats hydroid polyps of the species Eudendrium ramosum .
Development cycle
After the hermaphroditic snails have mated with one another , they deposit light pink-orange egg bands on the prey hydrozoa. At 14 ° C, the eggs develop into Veliger larvae in 7 days , which feed on plankton and, after a phase as zooplankton , metamorphose into snails .
distribution
Flabellina iodinea lives on the North American Pacific coast between British Columbia ( Canada ) and Punta Asunción ( Baja California Sur , Mexico ). It also occurs in the Gulf of California and the Galapagos Islands . The worm is just before Santa Catalina Iceland ( California have been found). It lives in sea depths from the intertidal zone up to 40 m.
literature
- J. Duane Sept: The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life of California . Harbor Publishing, Madeira Park (BC Canada) 2002. Spanish Shawl, Flabellina iodinea , p. 122.
Web links
- Jennifer Kennedy: Spanish Shawl Nudibranch (Flabellina iodinea)
Individual evidence
- ^ Jeff HR Goddard: The Sea Slug Forum - Flabellina iodinea . Australian Museum. 2000. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
- ↑ Jeff HR Goddard: Spanish Shawl . The slugsite. 2000. Retrieved October 3, 2017.