Pleurobranchus varians


Pleurobranchus varians is a species of sea slug, a sidegill slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Pleurobranchidae.

Taxonomy

The sister species is Pleurobranchus areolatus from Caribbean. Those two species split 3.10 million years ago. Both species have color morphs and for their proper determination is useful the knowledge of locality.

Distribution

The distribution of P. varians include the Hawaiian Islands and Vanuatu. The type locality is Hawaiian Islands.

Description

P. varians was originally discovered and described by William Harper Pease in 1860. Pease' original text reads as follow:

Ecology

All species in the genus Pleurobranchus are carnivorous.