Aglaja ocelligera
(Bergh 1893)

Order: CEPHALASPIDEA
Superfamily: PHILINOIDEA
Family: Aglajidae

DISTRIBUTION

West Coast of Nth America [Alaska to San Diego, California]

PHOTO

Locality: Monterey, California, USA, Pacific Ocean. Depth: 30 feet. Length: 1.5 inches. 15 May 2005. Sand. Photographer: Michael Jimenez

Body dark brownish black with spots variously described as yellow, white or bluish. On the naterior edge of the head shield on each side there is often a prominent whitish transverse streak. The posterior end of the body is often sometimes edged in yellowish white.  The anterior end of each parapodia is extended out as a short tentacle like projection, the posterior end of the head shield is rounded, and the posterior 'tails' are usually unequal in length, the left often extending into a long slender 'streamer'. features of its anatomy are described by Macfarland (1966) where it is misidentified as A. diomedea (= Melanochlamys diomedea ). Its anatomy hasbeen investigated by Rudman (1974) and Gosliner (1980). It grows to about 20 mm in length.

• Bergh, L. S. R. (1893) Die Gruppe der Doridiiden. Mittheilungen aus der Zoologischen Station zu Neapel. Zugleich eim Repertorium fur Mittelmeerkunde, 6: 107-135.
• Gosliner,TM (1980): Systematics and phylogeny of the Aglajidae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 68(4), 325-360.
• MacFarland, F. M. (1966) Studies of Opisthobranchiate Mollusks of the Pacific coast of North America. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 6: 1-546.
• Rudman, W.B. (1974) A comparison of Chelidonura, Navanax and Aglaja with other genera of the Aglajidae (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 54(3): 185-212.

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