PORT PHILLIP BAY


Side-gilled Sea Slug 

Berthellina citrina (Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828)

View scientific description and taxonomy

Scientific Details

Pleurobranchida group detail.
Soft-bodied oval animals, usually rather flattened, the mantle often smooth but in some larger species covered with many rounded or polygonal tubercles. Shell when present internal, flattened, fragile finger-nail shaped with small coiled embryonic spire at one end. A feathery gill is always present along the right body wall between mantle and foot. Velum present across head projecting forward of mantle. Rhinophores project from below anterior mantle. Larger species often strongly pustulose or tuberculose, and brightly coloured.

Source: Burn, R. (2006) A checklist and bibliography of the Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Victoria and the Bass Strait area, south-eastern Australia. Museum Victoria Science Reports 10: 1-42.

Taxonomy

Phylum:
Mollusca
Subphylum:
Conchifera
Superclass:
Visceroconcha
Class:
Gastropoda
Subclass:
Orthogastropoda
Superorder:
Heterobranchia
Order:
Opisthobranchia
Suborder:
Pleurobranchida
Superfamily:
Pleurobranchoidea
Family:
Pleurobranchidae
Genus:
Berthellina
Species:
citrina

General Description

Body shape slug-like with shell. Gill structures visible as feather-like projections along the right side of the body. Pattern includes shades or colours of orange and/or yellow. Animal up to 4 cm long, shell up to 6 mm long.

Biology

These animals are referred to as "side-gilled" slugs because of the gill that runs along the side of their bodies.

Habitat

Intertidal to deeper waters, to depth of 150 m.

Coastal shores

Reefs

Distribution guide

Tropical and temperate oceans, including Australia.

Species Group

Nudibranchs and allies › Side-gilled sea slugs

Depth

Shore (0-1 m)
Shallow (1-30 m)
Deep ( > 30 m)

Water Column

On or near sea floor

Max Size

4 cm

Diet

Carnivore

Commercial Species

No

Global Dispersal

Recorded in Australia

Identify

Conservation Status

  • DSE Advisory List : Not listed
  • EPBC Act 1999 : Not listed
  • IUCN Red List : Not listed

Author

article author Burn, R.

Robert Burn is an Honorary Associate at Museum Victoria with expertise in Molluscs.

Author

article author Wilson, R.

Robin Wilson is a Senior Curator of marine invertebrates at Museum Victoria.

citation

Cite this page as:
Burn, R. & Wilson, R., 2011, Side-gilled Sea Slug, Berthellina citrina, in Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay, Museum Victoria, accessed 09 Oct 2024, http://136.154.202.208:8098/species/4881

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