The radula is a feeding structure unique to molluscs and, in sacoglossan sea slugs, it’s reduced to a single-pointed tooth per row that is used to puncture algal cells. I used this scanning electron microscopic image along with others from from 20 different specimens to perform integrative species delimitation of a taxonomically challenging clade of sacoglossan sea slugs, the E. tomentosa complex, that can be ecologically important in controlling invasive algal species of Caulerpa.
Type
Scanning Electron Microscope
Artist Affiliation
Graduate Student
Department
Biological Science
Area of Research
Mate choice and sexual conflict in marine simultaneous hermaphrodites