Aglajid sp. 6

Order: CEPHALASPIDEA
Superfamily: PHILINOIDEA
Family: Aglajidae

PHOTO

House Reef, Tekek Village, Tioman, Malaysia. on a slightly sloping silt/sand bottom between 15 to 20 metres. Approx 5-6 cm long. Photos: Michelle Tay & Jeffree Shahrizal

Although it looks something like a Sea Hare, the presence of a distinct headshield suggests it is some type of cephalaspidean bubble shell, perhaps in the family Aglajidae or Phlinidae. The parapodial flaps are very large, as are the 'tails' off the posterior end of the posterior or visceral hump. I presume there is an internal shell over the visceral hump, and there is a large hole [foramen] into the shell cavity, which is unusual in aglajids. A small pore has been reported in some species of Philine, and a small pore or a larger foramen is present in species of Sea Hare genus Aplysia. One other animal that apparently has such a foramen is Noalda exigua but it was described from a shell alone and I don't know if the one drawing of the live animal available is correctly identified or not [see message #6151 ]. Nothing is known of the anatomy of Noalda, although it is has been suggested that it is an aglajid.  

Note added April 2010: see message #23454 for further discussion on possible relationship to Noalda, and N. exigua Fact Sheet for photos of living animal.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2005 (June 6) Aglajid sp. 6 [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aglajidsp6

Copyright © Australian Museum, 1998-2010