Nudibranchi - Nudibranchia

nudibranchs mollusks Opisthobranchia nudibranchia nudibranchi molluschi intotheblue.it

Doride giallo - Baptodoris cinnabarina

Nel tratto di mare che va da Cagliari a Villasimius in Sardegna abbiamo incontrato la Cinnabarina - Baptodoris cinnabarina, un esemplare di Nudibranchi di colore giallo ...

Doride tricolore - Felimare tricolor

Abbiamo trovato questi tre esemplari di Doride Tricolore su un fondale di roccia e coralligeno ad una profondità che varia dai 45 ai 50 metri. Questi animali sono piuttosto comuni nel Mediterraneo e sono anche difficili da fotografare e filmare ...

Dotted sea slug - Peltodoris atromaculata - Discodoris atromaculata

Peltodoris atromaculata, more commonly known as the dotted sea slug or sea cow, is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae. ...

Felimare picta

With this article we add a new species to the Nudibranchis filmed on intotheblue.it. This is Felimare picta, one of the most colorful sea snails belonging to the genus Nudibranchia in the Mediterranean Sea. ...

Jorunna funebris - Nudibranchs

Jorunna funebris, common name the dotted nudibranch, is a large species of sea lung, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Discodoridae. ...

Lepre di mare dagli Anelli - Aplysia dactylomela

Aplysia dactylomela , conosciuta anche come Aplysia degli Anelli o Lepre di mare dagli Anelli, è Mollusco nudibranco gasteropode di medie dimensioni (10-20 cm) appartenente alla famiglia Aplysiidae. ...

Sea hare - Aplysia depilans

Sea hare, Spanish Mediterranean Ballerina (Aplysia depilans Gmelin, 1791) also known as sea scia is an anaspidic mollusk of the Aplysiidae family. ...

Umbraculum mediterraneum – Umbraculum umbraculum

Umbraculum mediterraneum è un Mollusco Gasteropode Heterobranchia appartenente all’ordine dei Notaspidei. Probabilmente insieme alla Aplysia depilans, è tra i nudibranchi più grandi presenti nel mar Mediterraneo. ...

The nudibranchs (Nudibranch (Blainville, 1814)) are a suborder of mollusks of the order Opisthobranchia, which includes more than 7000 species described. The word nudibranch comes from the Latin nudus (nude) and the Greek word brankhia (gill), and means with the bare gills.

Nudibranchia nudibranchi Nudibranchs intotheblue.it

Distribution and habitat

They can be found all over the world at all depths, even though most species live in warm, shallow waters, although species have also been found in the Antarctic seas.

Description

Nudibranchs have a soft and flexible body. The adult form has no shell, which is lost during the very first vital period, at the end of planktonic life, nor do they have operculum.

The shapes and colors can vary enormously, the dimensions vary from 1 to 60 centimeters. Among the nudibranches you can find the most colorful creatures on Earth.

They are typically benthic animals (although some, like the Spanish dancer, can swim through body movements and others, such as Glaucus atlanticus, lead pelagic life by floating thanks to a bubble of air supported by modified waxes), they have all of the chemoreceptors on the nape, called rhinophores, used as sensory organs. Sometimes they have waxed on the body, small protuberances of the digestive system also used for breathing.

The evolutionary adaptation of the nudibranchs has led to a huge variety of shapes and colors, both for mimetic and defensive purposes.

Biology

Reproduction. Spawning of ribbon eggs. They are hermaphrodite animals, but can not self-fertilize.

Reproduction takes place via internal sex, through copulation. Typically they lay eggs in gelatinous spirals or in web-like veils, often near or over their food prey. The development of the individual takes place in the egg, which leaves it in a larval form, called a veliger and with eyelashes, which practices a short planktonic life and then loses the shell and starts the benthic life.

Supply They are carnivorous animals; some feed on sponges, hydrozoans, bryozoans, others are cannibals, feeding on other opistobranchs or nudibranchs of the same species. Others still feed on tunicates, crustaceans or even dead fish.

Defense mechanisms Because of the loss of the external shell they had to develop, through evolution, other protection systems: in particular the camouflage through colors that make them invisible, such as the Phyllodesmium longicirra or the Melibe mirifica, or through colorations that identify them as non-edible or poisonous (aposematism), such as Hypselodoris infucata.