Pleurobranchidae


Pleurobranchidae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, marine gastropod molluscs, in the order
Pleurobranchida.

Characteristics

Species in the family Pleurobranchidae have a prominent mantle and an internal shell that becomes reduced or is lost completely in adults. Some adult species have been seen feeding on ascidians. Larval pleurobranchids can be planktotrophic, lecithotrophic, or direct developing.
Like all Pleurobranchomorpha, they breathe through an external gill, located on the right side, just after the genital organ.
Many species produce secretions from their rich glandular mantle as a chemical defense against predators. Even the production of sulfuric acid has been reported.

Taxonomy

Until 2005, this family was placed in the suborder Notaspidea. However, in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi, the family Pleurobranchidae was placed in the superfamily Pleurobranchoidea. This superfamily was placed as the sole member of the subclade Pleurobranchomorpha, sister to the subclade Nudibranchia within the clade Nudipleura.
In 2017, Bouchet and colleagues emended the spelling and rank of Pleurobranchomorpha to order Pleurobranchida and separated some of the members of Pleurobranchidae into the additional families Pleurobranchaeidae and Quijotidae, all within the superfamily Pleurobranchoidea.
The following genera and respective species are recognised in the family Pleurobranchidae:Bathyberthella