| Elysia crispata | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Lettuce sea slug
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| Elysia crispata |
Elysia crispata, commonly known as the lettuce sea slug, is a large and colorful species of sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Slug is a common non-scientific word which is often applied to any Gastropod mollusk whatsoever that has a very reduced shell a small internal shell Marine is an Umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the Sea or Ocean, such as Marine biology, Marine An opisthobranch (ō-pĭsʹthə-brăngk is any member of the very large and diverse group of rather specialized highly evolved marine slugs and snails ( marine Gastropod The class Gastropoda or the gastropods, also previously known as gasteropods, or univalves, and more commonly known as Snails Molluscs are animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca. There are around 250000 extant Species within the phylum with an estimated 70000
The lettuce slug resembles a nudibranch, but it is not closely related to that order of gastropods, instead it is a sacoglossan. A nudibranch (pronounced (BrE or (AmE is a member of one Suborder of soft-bodied shell-less marine Opisthobranch Gastropod Mollusks Sacoglossa, commonly known as the sacoglossans, are a Taxonomic order of small bubble Snails sea Snails and sea Slugs
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Distribution
This species lives in the tropical parts of the western Atlantic, the Caribbean faunal zone. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting
Description
This species is called the lettuce slug because it is often green in color, and it always has a very frilly edge to its parapodia. This makes the slug resemble the curly kinds of lettuce, such as the lollo rosso variety. Lettuce ( Lactuca sativa) is a Temperate annual or Biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae.
The lettuce slug is extremely variable in color: it can also be blue or very pale with red lines or yellow lines.
Anatomy
This sea slug (in common with some other sacoglossans) has algal chloroplasts (from its seaweed food sources) still functioning within its tissues, providing it with sugars. Algae ( sing. alga are a large and diverse group of simple typically Autotrophic organisms ranging from Unicellular to Multicellular forms Chloroplasts are Organelles found in Plant cells and eukaryotic Algae that conduct Photosynthesis. This unusual phenomenon is known as kleptoplasty. Kleptoplasty is a phenomenon whereby Plastids from Algae are sequestered by a host organism
REferences
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