Biodiversity & Conservation

Lagoon sea slug - Tenellia adspersa - General information

Tenellia adspersa

Image Dennis R. Seaward - Tenellia adspersa crawling on Ruppia with the mollusc Rissoa membranacea. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Tenellia adspersa recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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  • WC_Act_1981
  • UK_BAP

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Nicola White Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Richard S.K. Barnes

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Gastropoda Snails, slugs & sea butterflies
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland The few British records are from the Firth of Forth, Scotland, near St Osyth, Essex, the Fleet, Dorset, the Bristol Channel, off Pembrokeshire and Liverpool Bay.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found intertidally and in the shallow sublittoral. A euryhaline species often in harbours, estuaries and canals.
Text page icon Description A tiny nudibranch with few finger-like protrusions, arranged in groups of two or three along each side of the body. The pale brown body is marked with tiny black spots as are the protrusions. It grows up to 8 mm in length.

This review can be cited as follows:

Nicola White 2008. Tenellia adspersa. Lagoon sea slug. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 20/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=4433>