Firoloida desmarestia Lesueur, 1817
Worldwide warm waters. Swimming predator on gelatinous zooplankton in the upper layers of the seas (epipelagic and mesopelagic, according to the daily vertical migration of the preys). Only the larva bears a shell, snail-shaped with only two whorls. There are many synonyms, due to the wide distribution of the species over the world: aculeata, gracilis, liguriae, vigilans… blainvilleana, gaimardi, lesueurii…

400m deep, off Alborán island. 0,6mm.
The species in C. A. Lesueur: “Characters of a new genus and descriptions of three new species upon which it is formed; discovered in the Atlantic ocean in the months of March and April, 1816; lat, 22'9”, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia vol. I .I, Philadelphia 1817, plate II.
 
« Body long, glabrous, hyaline, acuminated at each extremity; no gelatinous points. Plate 2, fig. 1.b. position of the eyes and nervous ganglion between them; a. oviduct, magnified. Inhabits the ocean near Martinique, taken in March 1816. Dorsal fin rounded, nearer to the eyes than to the nucleus. Lenght of the body two inches. » – The genus is monospecific.
Larva from 1m deep, uvala Stari Trogir, Sevid area, Split-Dalmatia Comitat, W. Croatia. Original picture provided by V. Cetinić-Koća (HR) – (CC BY-NC-SA).

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