Week 47: Sea Slugs ('Nudibranch')

Sea Slugs were @SpeciesofUK from 20^th to 26^th January, 2014.

   

Sea slug is a common name given to thousands of marine gastropod molluscs that lack external shells.[1] They are related to our familiar land-dwelling slugs and snails.

Polycera quadrilineata
[Flickr Creative Commons © Frank Gloystein]

The main grouping of sea slugs is the so-called ‘nudibranchs’.[2] It is these that form the subject of this post. 

Week 5: Native Oyster (Ostrea edulis)

The Native Oyster was @SpeciesofUK from 30th December 2012 to 5th January 2013.

There are hundreds of species of oyster in the world. They are split into two main families – true oysters (which include edible oysters) and pearl oysters. There are also a few other smaller families.

The Native oyster is a species of true oyster.

Oysters are a type of bivalve mollusc. They're a mollusc because they have a mantle (or shell), and they are bivalve because the shell comes in two halves or 'valves.'