''Enteroxenos'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of very small

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

s, marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the family

Eulimidae Eulimidae is a family of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Vanikoroidea. Description These small parasitic snails live on (or in some cases in) the bodies of echinoderms such as sea cucumbers, se ...

.Bonnevie, 1902. Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180-213 (look up in IMIS). Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137966 on 2013-01-18.

Description

These small snails have no mouth or gut, and absorb nutrients through their body wall. These odd animals look much more like worms than snails, but the larval form is a

veliger A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells. Description The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod taxono ...

, which is characteristic of mollusks.

Species

Species within this genus include the following: * '' Enteroxenos bouvieri'' (Risbec, 1953) * '' Enteroxenos muelleri'' (Semper, 1868) * '' Enteroxenos oestergreni'' Bonnevie, 1902 * '' Enteroxenos parastichopoli'' (Tikasingh, 1961) ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Enteroxenos ostergreni'' (Bonnevie, 1902): synonym of ''Enteroxenos oestergreni'' (Bonnevie, 1902)

Reproduction

The female is significantly larger than the male and may grow up to in length. The females become hosts to the smaller males, which then fertilise their eggs.

References

External links

First page of a 1964 paper in Transactions of American Microscopical Society about a species in this genus

The original 1902 paper (in German) describing the species

Nomenclator Zoologicus info on the genus

To World Register of Marine Species
Eulimidae Gastropod genera {{Eulimidae-stub