Berghia stephanieae
| Berghia stephanieae | |
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| Dorsal view of Berghia stephanieae. | |
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| Dorsal view of Berghia stephanieae. Scale bar is 100 μm. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia clade Dexiarchia clade Cladobranchia clade Aeolidida |
| Superfamily: | Aeolidioidea |
| Family: | Aeolidiidae |
| Genus: | Berghia |
| Species: | B. stephanieae |
| Binomial name | |
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Berghia stephanieae (Valdés, 2005) |
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Berghia stephanieae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aeolidiidae. It was previously known as Aeolidiella stephanieae.
The range of this species is from the most northern point 25.7°N, to the most southern 25.09°N, and from the most western 80.44°W, to the most eastern 80.2°W.
This is one of the most commonly sold aeolid nudibranchs in the marine aquarium trade in North America, because it is used to control the sea anemone Aiptasia.
The size of the body of this species is up to 20 mm.
This sea slug lives in shallow waters from 1 to 2 m in depth. It eats anemones from the genus Aiptasia.
The development of Berghia stephanieae lasts 60 days at 22 °C. The ontogenetic development of Berghia stephanieae can be subdivided into 8 stages, each recognisable by characteristic morphological and behavioural features as well as specific characters of the nervous system and the muscular system, respectively. The larval nervous system of Berghia stephanieae includes an apical organ, developing central ganglia, and peripheral neurons associated with the velum (a structure used for swimming and particulate food collection), foot and posterior, visceral part of the larva.
In Berghia stephanieae the development is lecithotrophic (feed off a yolk sac). The first pair of cephalic tentacles, the rhinophores, emerge shortly after metamorphosis (30% of development), whereas the second pair, the oral tentacles, appear significantly later in postmetamorphic stages (juvenile stage, 40% of development). The same developmental pattern of cephalic tentacles has been shown in three other nudibranchs, so far (Adalaria proxima, Cadlina laevis and Melibe leonina). The settlement and metamorphosis in Berghia stephanieae larvae are not triggered by their future prey, and most likely therefore the rhinophores develop first after metamorphosis in order to be able to locate their diet, sea anemones.
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Wikipedia