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Cephalaspidea
The order Cephalaspidea, also known as the headshield slugs and bubble snails, is a major taxon of sea slugs and bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the larger clade Euopisthobranchia. Bubble shells is another common name for these families of marine gastropods, some of which have thin bubble-like shells. This clade contains more than 600 species.
Members of this worldwide clade used to be considered the most ancestral of the opisthobranchs, but now they are considered as derived and specialized members of the Euthyneura Spengel, 1881.
Headshield slugs are the most morphologically diverse group of all the opisthobranchs.[citation needed]
The vast majority possess a shell, although it may be reduced or internal. They have a well-developed headshield, a characteristic broadening at the head, which is used to plow beneath the surface of the sand. This headshield prevents the sand entering the mantle cavity. There is a muscular foot with or without parapodia (fleshy wing-like flaps).
Headshield slugs often live just beneath the surface of the sand and can also be seen crawling on rocks. They have well-developed sensory structures to detect prey, which may be other opisthobranchs, polychaetes or bristleworms and foraminiferans. Several species are voracious carnivores.
Members of the brightly colored genus Chelidonura also have well-developed eyes on the anterior end of the head and bundles of sensory cilia around the mouth. With these cilia they are able to track their prey by following the victim's mucous trail.
The Hancock's organ is a chemosensory organ situated between the foot and the headshield. It plays a role in olfactory and sensory detection. It is visible as a dark brown pit at the base of the right rhinophore.
The taxonomy of the shelled cephalaspideans, the bubble snails, like that of many shelled mollusks, used to be based very simply on shell characteristics. But because there are some similarities in shell morphology throughout this group, more recently taxonomists have taken other anatomical characteristics into consideration, such as the radula, gizzard, penis, and Hancock's organ.
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Cephalaspidea
The order Cephalaspidea, also known as the headshield slugs and bubble snails, is a major taxon of sea slugs and bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the larger clade Euopisthobranchia. Bubble shells is another common name for these families of marine gastropods, some of which have thin bubble-like shells. This clade contains more than 600 species.
Members of this worldwide clade used to be considered the most ancestral of the opisthobranchs, but now they are considered as derived and specialized members of the Euthyneura Spengel, 1881.
Headshield slugs are the most morphologically diverse group of all the opisthobranchs.[citation needed]
The vast majority possess a shell, although it may be reduced or internal. They have a well-developed headshield, a characteristic broadening at the head, which is used to plow beneath the surface of the sand. This headshield prevents the sand entering the mantle cavity. There is a muscular foot with or without parapodia (fleshy wing-like flaps).
Headshield slugs often live just beneath the surface of the sand and can also be seen crawling on rocks. They have well-developed sensory structures to detect prey, which may be other opisthobranchs, polychaetes or bristleworms and foraminiferans. Several species are voracious carnivores.
Members of the brightly colored genus Chelidonura also have well-developed eyes on the anterior end of the head and bundles of sensory cilia around the mouth. With these cilia they are able to track their prey by following the victim's mucous trail.
The Hancock's organ is a chemosensory organ situated between the foot and the headshield. It plays a role in olfactory and sensory detection. It is visible as a dark brown pit at the base of the right rhinophore.
The taxonomy of the shelled cephalaspideans, the bubble snails, like that of many shelled mollusks, used to be based very simply on shell characteristics. But because there are some similarities in shell morphology throughout this group, more recently taxonomists have taken other anatomical characteristics into consideration, such as the radula, gizzard, penis, and Hancock's organ.