Sacoproteus Explained

Sacoproteus is a genus of sea slugs in the Limapontiidae family, described in 2018. It contains five species, of which four were newly described when the genus was erected, and one (Sacoproteus smaragdinus) was reassigned from its previous classification of Stiliger smaragdinus as the type species of the new genus. Most of the species are mimetic of toxic "sea-grape" algae in the genus Caulerpa.[1]

Species

The species of the genus were found to closely mimic the appearance of different types of toxic algae that they feed on.

mimics Caulerpa chemnitzia

mimics Caulerpa cactoides and Caulerpa gemminata

probably as S. yhiae

not mimetic

Notes and References

  1. News: Stunning new sea slug species look just like seaweed. https://web.archive.org/web/20181204102000/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/10/news-sea-slugs-mimicry-algae-camouflage/. dead. December 4, 2018. 2018-10-16. 2018-12-04.