Triviidae

Order: Sorbeoconcha (Neotaenioglossa)
Superfamily: VELUTINOIDEA
Family: Triviidae

PHOTO

Trivia californica feeding on tunicate. San Miguel Island, Channel Islands National Park, California - July 2003. Photo: Bruce Wight

Triviids have usually been considered relatives of the cowries [Fam: Cypraeidae] but are in fact more closely related to the Velutinidae also known as the Lamellariidae. The inflated cowry-like shell is at least partially enveloped by fleshy mantle lobes, which can give them a fleshy shell-less appearance which often causes them to be mistaken for sea slugs. In most cases when they are crawling a pair of head tentacles will emerge from beneath the body, with basal eyes, instantly showing that these are not opisthobranch sea slugs. Another character is the single anterior siphon above the head which opens into the mantle cavity. Velutinoideans all seem to feed on colonial ascidians.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (August 3) Triviidae. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/triviidae

Copyright © Australian Museum, 1998-2010