Gastropoda (Sea snails, Sea slugs, Nudibranch)

Special thanks to Dr. Fabio Crocetta

Dr. Fabio Crocetta, a molusc specialist, help us to identify and to correctly clasify the species that we meet at our dives. Thank you Fabio!

From Wikipedia

The Gastropoda or gastropods, more commonly known as snails and slugs, are a large taxonomic class within the phylum Mollusca. The class Gastropoda includes snails and slugs of all kinds and all sizes from microscopic to large. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and sea slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, land snails and land slugs.

The class Gastropoda contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. There are 611 families of gastropods known, of which 202 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record.

Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 60,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. ....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastropoda

Links

•  Sea snails 
  • Triton's trumpet
•  Sea slugs
  • Nudibranch
    • Flabellina Affinis
    • Flabellina Ischitana is often confused with Flabellina affinis
    • Cratena peregrina 
    • Peltodoris atromaculata 
    • Hypselodoris elegans
    • Flabellina rubrolineata
• Photos: 
  • http://www.european-marine-life.org/14/prosobranch-gastropods-gallery.php
  • http://www.european-marine-life.org/14/opisthobranch-gastropods-gallery.php