Oxynoe antillarum 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 small sea snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

 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 bubble snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

, 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...

 gastropod mollusk in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Oxynoidae

Oxynoidae

Oxynoidae is a family of sea snails, bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Oxynooidea, an opisthobranch group.This family has no subfamilies.-Genera:The following three genera or four are included in the family Oxynoidae:...

.

Distribution

The type locality for this species is Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...

.

Description

This species has a characteristic mottled white pattern and is covered with translucent white spots. There is a mottled white band that extends along the sides of the head, around the edge of the parapodia, and also along the edge of the foot.

The body is green and oval. The tail is very long, narrow, with a wide longitudinal white dorsal band. The body is closely dotted with green. Tentacles and sides of the head are white, with rather remote green dots arranged in series. Epipodial lobes are with acute, conic, close warts, its edge white with irregular green dots. Sole of the foot yellowish, narrow, the margin with a row of regular close green dots.

The shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 is involute, ovate, hyaline-white, swollen above, very slightly contracted immediately below the vertex, shining, with some irregular wrinkles of growth. The spire

Spire (mollusc)

A spire is a descriptive term for part of the coiled shell of mollusks. The word is a convenient aid in describing shells, but it does not refer to a very precise part of shell anatomy: the spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl...

 is concealed. The suture a deep lunate incision. The aperture

Aperture (mollusc)

The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....

is very large, broadly ovate below, narrow above. The outer lip is sinuous, produced forward above.

The height of the shell is 6-6.25 mm. The width of the shell is 4.5 mm.

External links

• photo
• http://www.seaslugforum.net/oxynanti.htm