''Fowlerina'', one kind of "sea angel", is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of small
sea slug
Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...
s,
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
opisthobranch
Opisthobranchs () is now an informal name for a large and diverse group of specialized complex gastropods which used to be united in the subclass Opisthobranchia. That taxon is no longer considered to represent a monophyletic grouping.
Euopisth ...
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
s in the family
Clionidae
The Clionidae are a family of sea angels, which are a group of pelagic marine gastropods.
They resemble angels, complete with flapping "wings", hence their common name. They are gelatinous, mostly transparent pteropods, and they only have sh ...
.
Sometimes called pteropods, these are floating
pelagic
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
creatures which swim by flapping two wing-like extensions of their body known as
parapodia
In invertebrates, the term parapodium ( Gr. ''para'', beyond or beside + ''podia'', feet; plural: parapodia) refers to lateral outgrowths or protrusions from the body. Parapodia are predominantly found in annelids, where they are paired, unjointed ...
.
Please also see:
Sea angel
Sea angels (clade Gymnosomata) are a large group of small free-swimming sea slugs, not to be confused with Cnidarians (Jellyfish and other similar creatures), classified into six different families. They are pelagic opisthobranchs in the clade G ...
and
Clionidae
The Clionidae are a family of sea angels, which are a group of pelagic marine gastropods.
They resemble angels, complete with flapping "wings", hence their common name. They are gelatinous, mostly transparent pteropods, and they only have sh ...
.
Species
Species in the genus ''Fowlerina'' include:
* ''
Fowlerina punctata''
Tesch, 1903
* ''
Fowlerina zetesios''
Pelseneer, 1906
References
Clionidae
{{Clionidae-stub