The Phylliroidae are a family of

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to matc ...

sea snails Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, highly

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

to a

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 ...

lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bus ...

and occurring in tropical surface waters around the globe. The two species of the genus ''

Phylliroe ''Phylliroe'' is a genus of average sized (up to ), highly transparent pelagic nudibranchs, marine gastropod molluscs in the order Opisthobranchia, that consists of two known species. It is notable for being an open-ocean hunter that resembl ...

'' and ''

Cephalopyge trematoides ''Cephalopyge trematoides'' is a pelagic species of nudibranch. A free-swimming marine gastropod in the family Phylliroidae. ''Cephalopyge trematoides'' is the only known species in its genus (i.e. the genus is monotypic In biology, a mono ...

'' that have been assigned to this family are small to average in size (up to ), slender and highly transparent. They swim by undulating their whole body. Their foot is very small, which helps to reduce drag. They are

carnivores A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

that prey on

planktonic Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

jelly fish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

References

Further reading