Melanochlamys Droupadi : New Species Of Head-Shield Sea Slug
Researchers of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) recently discovered a new species of head-shield sea slug from Odisha and the West Bengal coast named ‘Melanochlamys Droupadi’.
- Melanochlamys Droupadi is a new marine species of head-shield sea slug with ruby red spot.
- This species belonging to Melanochlamys genus was discovered from Digha of West Bengal coast and Udaipur of Odisha coast.
- It is a small invertebrate with a maximum length of up to 7 mm.
- It inhabits wet and soft sandy beaches.
- It is brownish black in colour with a ruby red spot in the hind end.
- This particular species of sea slug is hermaphrodite (having both male and female reproductive parts); however, they need another sea slug for reproduction.
- It has a shell inside the body. It has a posterior, accounting for 61 percent of its body length.
- It continuously secretes transparent mucus to form a sheath that prevents sand grains from entering parapodial space.
- It crawls beneath smooth sand to form a moving capsule where the body is rarely visible, leaving behind a trail like a turtle.
- Sea Slugs are a group of molluscs that live primarily in marine habitats and are slug-like.
- They can be found from the shallow intertidal to the deep sea and from the polar regions to the tropics.
- The sea slugs are rapid hunters and feed upon mobile prey such as other shelled and unshelled sea slugs, roundworms, marine worms, and small fishes.
