Navanax inermis
| Navanax inermis | |
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| From Catalina Island, California | |
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| Species: | N. inermis
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| Binomial name | |
| Navanax inermis (Cooper, 1863)
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Navanax inermis, common name the California aglaja, is a species of predatory sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aglajidae and the order Cephalaspidea, the headshield slugs and bubble snails.[1]
It has been suggested that this species should be moved to the genus Aglaja, but the name Navanax is still used in many of the popular works on mollusks.
Navanax is not a nudibranch, even though it somewhat resembles one; it belongs to a more ancient lineage of opisthobranchs called the cephalaspideans or head shield slugs and snails.
Distribution
This species occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range is from Tomales Bay, California, in the north, to Laguna Manuela and to Jalisco[2] in Mexico, in the south, including the Gulf of California.[3]
Description
This species can reach a total length of more than 22 cm.[4] It is the host of the ectoparasitic copepod Anthessius navanacis (Wilson C.B., 1935)
Life habits
Navanax inermis is a voracious predator, feeding on various sea slugs and bubble snails of the order Cephalaspidea, as well as nudibranchs such as Hermissenda crassicornis, Polycera atra, and Dirona picta. It uses chemoreceptors to track the slime trails of prey, and of potential mates.
Like all other Opisthobranchs, it is hermaphroditic.
References
- ^ a b WoRMS (2011). Navanax inermis (J.G. Cooper, 1863). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=367836 on 2012-05-17
- ^ Zamora-Silva A. & Naranjo-García E. (2008) "Los opistobranquios de la Colección Nacional de Moluscos". Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 79: 333-342. PDF
- ^ "Navanax inermis". The Slugsite. Retrieved 24 April 2006. [dead link]
- ^ "Navanax inermis". The Sea Slug Forum. Retrieved 24 April 2006.
- Abbott R. T. (1974). American Seashells. The marine mollusca of the Atlantic and Pacific coast of North America. II edit. Van Nostrand, New York 663 p. + 24 pl: page(s): 317
