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Stylocheilus longicauda

Long-tailed Pelagic Seahare

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult (1), Rarotonga	68KB
Image:	Adult (2), Rarotonga	67KB
Image:	Adult laying eggs, Guam	25KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Long-tailed Pelagic Seahare

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE circumtropical

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group - so far Rarotonga; Marine, open ocean, pelagic

KEY FEATURES: Small seaslug to 6cmTL. COLOUR vivid green with a few blue spots and whitish papillae. HEAD with 4 long, slender tentacles. BODY with distinctive bulbous dome in centre covered by flaps; tail slender and very long ~50% TL.

Enlarged Image of 'Stylocheilus longicauda'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Stylocheilus longicauda (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; MOLLUSCA; GASTROPODA; OPISTHOBRANCHIA; Anaspidea; APLYSIIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: fieldspecimen+photo, 2005/Nov, Muri lagoon in Lyngbya, D.Drumm (photo G.McCormack) with ID as Stylocheilus longicauda based on G.Paulay image from Guam and info Bill Rudman on seaslugforum.net;

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM05b, zD05b

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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