Tayuva lilacina is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the family Discodorididae.Bouchet, P. (2011). Tayuva lilacina (Gould, 1852). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2011-08-23. A number of species descriptions are considered to be synonyms.Dayrat B. 2010. A monographic revision of discodorid sea slugs (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Nudibranchia, Doridina). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, vol. 61, suppl. I, 1-403, 382 figs.
Distribution This species was described from Honolulu, Oahu, Sandwich Islands. It has been reported widely in the Indo-Central Pacific and from the Pacific coast of Mexico and the Canary Islands. This wide distribution suggests that it is probably a species complex, but it has been considered to be an invasive species.Streftaris, N.; Zenetos, A.; Papathanassiou, E. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev. 43: 419-453
Description The maximum recorded body length is 50 mmWelch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776. or up to 120 mm.
Ecology Minimum recorded depth is 0.5 m. Maximum recorded depth is 63 m.
Tayuva lilacina feeds on Haliclona caerulea according to the in situ observations on the Pacific coast of Mexico.Verdín Padilla C. J., Carballo J. L. & Camacho M. L. (2010). "A qualitative assessment of sponge-feeding organisms from the Mexican Pacific Coast". Open Marine Biology Journal 4: 39–46. PDF It is probably highly specialized on this sponge.
References
Further reading Keen M. (1971). Sea shells of Tropical West America. Marine mollusks from Baja California to Perú. (2nd edit.). Stanford University Press pp. 1064 Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 Burn R. (2006) A checklist and bibliography of the Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Victoria and the Bass Strait area, south-eastern Australia. Museum Victoria Science Reports 10:1–42.
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