''Tritonicula wellsi'', the sea whip slug, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

, a shell-less 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 ...

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

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Tritoniidae Tritoniidae is a taxonomic family of nudibranchs in the suborder Cladobranchia, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs.MolluscaBase (2018)Tritoniidae Lamarck, 1809.Accessed on 2021-01-01 This family includes some of the largest known nudibranch ...

. The type locality is

Beaufort, North Carolina Beaufort ( , different from that of Beaufort, South Carolina) is a town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. Established in 1713 and incorporated in 1723, Beaufort is the fourth oldest town in North Carolina ( ...

.''Tritonia wellsi'' - Er. Marcus, 1961
Malacolog: A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca. Retrieved 2011-12-10. A number of Caribbean and western Pacific species of ''Tritonia'' were moved to a new genus ''Tritonicula'' in 2020 as a result of an integrative taxonomic study of the family Tritoniidae.

Description

''Tritonicula wellsi'' is white and grows to about 1.5 centimetres (0.6 in) long. The head bears a pair of rhinophores (sensory organs) each with a sheath at its base. There are also six tentacles on the head in a transverse line. The body has two longitudinal rows of arborescent (tree-like)

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

s which resemble the polyps of the whip corals on which it lives and feeds. It is adapted for life on the coral, '' Leptogorgia virgulata'', and is found nowhere else. It closely resembles the related species, '' Tritonicula bayeri'', which has much the same range.

Distribution

''Tritonicula wellsi'' is found wherever its host occurs, on the western fringes of the Atlantic Ocean, from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

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south to

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, the

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and

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.Caussat, M. 2021
''Tritonia wellsi''
Seaslugs Guadeloupe, accessed 2021-01-06.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3200904 Tritoniidae Gastropods described in 1961