Akera bullata is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

 (or sea slug

Slug

Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...

), a marine

Marine (ocean)

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 ecology and marine geology...

 opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Akeridae

Akeridae

Akeridae is a small taxonomic family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs belonging to the superfamily Akeroidea, the sea hares. The family, in its original spelling "Aceridae", has previously been attributed in error to Pilsbry, 1893....

, a family that is related to the sea hare

Sea hare

The clade Aplysiomorpha, commonly known as Sea hares or Sea Bags , are medium-sized to very large Opisthobranchia with a soft internal shell made of protein...

s. This species is the only Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an representative of the genus Akera

Akera

Akera is a marine genus of sea hare in the family Akeridae, known from the late Callovian to the recent periods.-Description:...

.

Distribution

This species occurs from Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 to the Canaries

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, and also in the Mediterranean.

Ecology

This is a herbivorous

Herbivore

Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...

 bottom dweller (up to 370 m deep), which feeds on seagrass

Seagrass

Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...

es in the genera Zostera

Zostera

Zostera is a small genus of widely distributed seagrass, commonly called marine eelgrass or simply eelgrass . The genus Zostera contains sixteen species.-Ecology:Zostera is found on sandy substrates or in estuaries submerged or partially floating...

and Posidonia

Posidonia

Posidonia is a genus of flowering plants. It contains two to nine species of marine plants , found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia....

.

Description

The body has a maximum length of about 6 cm. Its color varies from gray to orange, with white or dark specks. Its fragile and smooth shell is white or brown. This sea hare is not an agile swimmer. It uses its broad parapodia (fleshy protrusions), held together funnelwise above the head, to paddle away when disturbed.

Synonyms

Acera bullata is an orthographic variant with considerable currency.

The NLBIF lists a large number of synonyms in addition to the above; including: Bulla akera (Gmelin, J.F., 1791), Bulla norwegica (Bruguière, J.G., 1789), Bulla canaliculata (Olivi, 1792), Bulla resiliens (Donovan, E., 1801), Bulla fragilis (Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de, 1822), Akera flexilis (Brown, 1844), Bulla hanleyi (Adams A. in Sowerby G.B. II, 1850/1855), Eucampe donovani (Leach, W.E., 1852), Bulla elastica (Sandri & Danilo, 1856), Acera bullata var. nana (Jeffreys, 1867), Acera elegans (Locard, 1886), Bulla farrani (Norman, 1890), Bulla globosa (Cantraine, F.J., 1840), Akera tenuis (Brusina, S., 1866) and Akera farrani (Winckworth, R., 1932).

Further reading

• Proposed use of the Plenary Powers for the purpose of securing that the name bullata Muller (O. F.), 1776, as published in the combination Akera bullata, shall be the oldest available name for the species currently so known (Class Gastropoda).
• Ecology and taxonomic status of the aplysiomorph Akera bullata in the British Isles.
• The marine fauna of the Sizewell area 1: brackish lagoons.
• Akera bullata Mueller O.F., 1792 in the southeastern Mediterranean (Israel).
• Marine invertebrates.
• Phylogenetic analysis of learning-related neuromodulation in molluscan mechanosensory neurons.
• Die Conchylien des Mittelmeers. Band ii. Mollusca cephala.
• Hayward, P.J., Wigham, G.D. & N. Yonow, 1990. Mollusca I: Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Gastropoda. In: The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe. (ed. P.J. Hayward & J.S. Ryland). Clarendon Press, Oxford: 628-730.
• Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto, 1991. European Seashells. Vol. I. 352 pp. Wiesbaden/Verlag Christa Hemmen.
• Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.
• Sowerby, G.B., 1859: Illustrated Index of British Shells. London.
• Thompson, T.E., 1988. Molluscs: Benthic Opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Synopses of the British fauna (NS), 8: 1-356.
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=71501&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock
• http://www.treebase.org/cgi-bin/treebase.pl?TaxonID=T16839&Submit=Taxon+ID
• http://www.medslugs.de/E/Med/Akera_bullata.htm