Swallowtail Headshield Slug

Q: Where can you find Swallowtail Headshield Slug?

Swallowtail Headshield Slug can be found in: Bali, Mariana Islands, Honduras East, Malaysia East, Costa Rica, Taiwan, Panama East, Mexico South East, Australia North, Marshall Islands, USA South East, Costa Rica East, Hawaii, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Belize, Brunei, Australia, Lesser Antilles, USA West, Cuba East, Japan South, Indo-Pacific West, Colombia North, Australia East, Nicaragua East, Indo-Pacific, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago, Polynesia, Malaysia, Dominican Republic, USA, Honduras, Japan, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, Palau, Philippines, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Micronesia, Tonga and Samoa, Mascarene Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati, Puerto Rico, Fiji, Haiti, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Virgin Islands (U.S.), Virgin Islands (U.K.).

Chelidonura hirundinina

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Chelidonura hirundinina is a species of small and colorful aglajid sea slug, a shell-less opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aglajidae.

The variety Chelidonura hirundinina var. punctata Eliot, 1903 has been elevated to the species Chelidonura punctata Eliot, 1903

Despite its colorful appearance, this is not a species of nudibranch; it is a cephalaspidean, a headshield slug. This is a tropical species which lives in the western Indo-Pacific, and also in the Caribbean Sea.

Description

This species has a maximum size of 40 mm, but is often smaller than that. The background color can be red, orange, dark brown, or black. There are blue, black, and orange stripes on the body, and there is a white marking towards the posterior end of the animal.

The two rather long "tails" at the end of the animal are characteristic of the genus Chelidonura. They have also well-developed sensory cilia on the anterior edge of the head which are used to find the prey.

The specific epithet hirundinina is Latin, meaning "little swallow", in reference to this swallow-tailed appearance.