Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Aplysiida Akera bullata

Akera bullata

Akera bullata O. F. Müller, 1776

Akera bullata (blue) @ Etang de Thau, France by Pascal Girard

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Tectipleura  

 

Order

Aplysiida  

 

Superfamily

Akeroidea  

 

Family

Akeridae  

 

Genus

Akera  

 

Species

Akera bullata  O. F. Müller, 1776

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 138734).
Synonyms

  • Acera bullata (Müller O.F., 1776)
  • Acera bullata var. nana Jeffreys, 1867
  • Acera elegans Locard, 1886
  • Aceras elegans Locard, 1886
  • Akera flexilis Brown, 1844
  • Bulla akera Gmelin, 1791
  • Bulla elastica Danilo & Sandri, 1856
  • Bulla farrani Norman, 1890
  • Bulla fragilis Lamarck, 1822
  • Bulla hanleyi Adams A. in Sowerby G.B. II, 1850
  • Bulla norwegica Bruguière, 1792
  • Bulla resiliens Donovan, 1801
  • Eucampe donovani Leach, 1847

Description
With a maximum reported length of about 60 mm, it has an elongated body provided with two large parapodial lobes. Body is coloured pale grey to orange, often streaked anteriorly with blotchy lines of purplish-brown, covered with white and dark spots. The head is indented in the front part, somewhat expanded laterally to form flattened tentacular lobes. The eyes are located in the periphery of the head. The shell is large, up to 40 mm, bubble-like, fragile, glossy, up to six characteristic whorls forming a rather flat spire. The shell cannot contain the entire body of the animal and it is visible from its rear side. The mantle ends at the back with a thin and long appendage which protrudes from the shell.

Biology
Classified as a primitive Anaspidea, it has a life form resemblant to Cephalaspidea, as the front of the animal’s body is intended for digging and, in fact, this sea slug spends most of its life buried in mud or silt, only coming out during the breeding season. During mating season (March and April in the Mediterranean) these animals can be found forming long chains of individuals crawling the sea bottom. The egg spawn is formed by a tangled light yellow cord, similar to the spawn of sea hares but thinner, less bulky and lighter in color. The large parapodial lobes cover the lateral and dorsal areas of shell when the animal is at rest, but they are used for evasive swimming action when disturbed. When it swims, due to its bulky shell, it does so in a very particular way, with the head up, the shell down and the parapodia forming a moving “skirt” around the animal. It feeds on algae, as do other sea hares.

Etymology

  • Akera, god from Egyptian mythology, symbol of the earth and more particularly of the underground life. Originally represented by a piece of earth with a human head, later representations show two opposite man heads or two opposite lion heads. It could also be from Greek [Ker] = horn and [a] privative: could also mean that has no body processes as most other sea hares do.
  • Bullata, from Latin “Bullatus”, meaning “inflated”, “water-bubble like”, “empty”, in reference to its shell.

Distribution
It is present in NE Atlantic waters, from Norway to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores, also along the Mediterranean Sea. Present in all Iberian waters. In Catalonia it has been found in the Bay of Roses, and in the Ebro Delta.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Akera bullata
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Similar species
This species closely resembles many species of the genus Haminoea, both are physically similar and live in a similar substrate, but Akera has a more elongated body, with far larger parapodia, and egg size and shape are fundamentally different from those of Haminoea. Also the shell of Akera has 6 turns, while Haminoea has far less turns. The eyes of Haminoea are located close to the center of the head, while in Akera they are on the periphery of the body. Differentiation is often difficult because literature is scarce.

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★★☆☆☆
[wpbi_chart type="bar" id="1" height="250" /]
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Akera bullata based on our own records.

Vídeos

 

More pictures

Akera bullata (2007-04 Etang de Thau) by Pascal ZANI
Akera bullata (2007-04 Etang de Thau) by Pascal ZANI
Akera bullata enterrándose en la arena. Galicia by Manuel Ballesteros
Akera bullata @ Granada
Akera bullata @ Etang de Thau, France by Pascal Girard
Akera bullata (half buried) @ Etang de Thau, France by Pascal Girard
Akera bullata (detail shell) @ Etang de Thau, France by Pascal Girard
Akera bullata @ France by Pascal Girard
Akera bullata pair @ France by Pascal Girard
Akera bullata shell detail @ France by Pascal Girard

Bibliography

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    Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Pontes, Miquel, Manuel Ballesteros, Enric Madrenas (2012-2025) "Akera bullata" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 13/08/2014. Accessed: 05/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=12190)