Limapontia senestra
(Quatrefages, 1844)
Order: SACOGLOSSA
Superfamily: LIMAPONTIOIDEA
Family: Limapontiidae
DISTRIBUTION
Northwestern Europe from Norway to Atlantic France and British Isles.
PHOTO
Fleet, Dorset, UK. August, 2003. Photo: Helen Marshall
Body-colour usually olive brown to black, with paler areas on either side of the head, including the rhinophores. There is also a characteristic pattern of colourless patches in the posterior half of the body, including a median patch and a series of patches on each side which can sometimes merge into a colourless band. This species is easily distinguishable from other species of Limapontia, at least as an adult, by the presence, in adults, of distinct and digitiform head tentacles [rhinophores]. Another characteristic feature is a swelling in the right lateral body wall, about midway down the body, caused by the bursa copulatrix [a sperm sac]. The anal and renal openings are situated close together in the postero-dorsal midline. This species grows to about 6mm and lives in fully saline intertidal pools and shallow water, often alongside L. capitata. It is reported to feed on the filamentous green algae, Cladophora. It mates by hypodermic impregnation. Larval development is direct, with no intracapsular veliger stage, the larvae hatching as small crawling slugs.
Reference:
• Thompson,T.E. (1976) Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs. Volume 1. The Ray Society, London. 207pp.
Rudman, W.B., 2004 (March 8) Limapontia senestra (Quatrefages, 1844). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/limasene
