Blue Spot Oxynoe

Animal to 30 mm. Shell bulloid, covering middle body, partly covered by parapodia. Aperture large, upper part of lip overlapping last whorl. Rhinophores ear-shaped. Eyes prominent behind rhinophores. Neck short, thick. Tail long, slender. Parapodia small, originating from ventral part of animal sides, with small papillae. Body green with bluish or whitish-gray spots. Species with planktotrophic development. Lives on and feed on green algae in the genus Caulerpa. The specimen in the main photo (by Ángel Valdés), from Sarasota Bay, was crawling atop the Green Feather Alga Caulerpa sertularioides. The one in the supplementary image was found in 2020 by Amy Tripp Buckner off Marco Island, and photographed by José H. Leal. This species had been previously identified in this guide as Oxynoe antillarum Mörch, 1863.