''Cerberilla albopunctata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

, an aeolid nudibranch, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

heterobranch

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Aeolidiidae Aeolidiidae, a family of aeolid nudibranchs, are a family of sea slugs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs.Bouchet, P. (2014)''Aeolidiidae'' Gray, 1827.Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2014-10-24 Most, or perhaps all, mem ...

.Rosenberg, G. (2015)
''Cerberilla albopunctata''.
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-11-09

Distribution

This species was described from Tomioka, Amakusa District, Kumamoto and other localities in middle and southern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. A similar looking animal has been reported from

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

.Rudman, W.B., 2002 (February 18
''Cerberilla albopunctata'' Baba, 1976.
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

Description

All ''Cerberilla'' species have a broad foot and the cerata are long and numerous, arranged in transverse rows across the body. In this spectacular species the body and cerata are covered with large round white spots on a translucent grey background. The long oral tentacles have white spotted bases and bands of bright blue and deep yellow and there is a band of yellow on each of the cerata.

Ecology

Species of ''Cerberilla'' live on and in sandy substrates where they burrow beneath the surface and feed on burrowing sea anemones.

References

* Liu J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). ''Checklist of marine biota of China seas''. China Science Press. 1267 pp. {{Taxonbar, from=Q13459854 Aeolidiidae Gastropods described in 1976