Elysia marginata

While there are few records of its distribution, E.marginata is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific ocean region and has been found living in depths of . It was first observed off of the Hawaiian Islands and Tahiti. == Description ==

E. marginata is described as having a green body with black and cream spots. It has tall, thin parapodia with a black band along its parapodial edge and a submarginal orange band. This species can be distinguished from other Indo-Pacific species by the white band found between the orange and black marginal bands. E. marginata has both a sedentary and migratory form, with the sedentary form reaching up to in length, and the migratory rarely exceeding . == Ecology ==

Like other species such as Elysia ornata, Elysia marginata lives in shallow water and feeds on Bryopsis algae off the rocky bottom. E. marginata uses kleptoplasty to sequester the chloroplasts from the algae it consumes. Unlike other sea slugs, which can only shed minor body parts, Elysia marginata and Elysia atroviridis can autotomize their heads completely from the rest of their body. E. marginata separates its head from the transverse groove over the course of several hours. Due to the slow nature of body separation, it is suggested that body shedding is a controlled mechanism to eliminate parasites, as the time-consuming nature of this behavior is not an efficient way to avoid predators and imitated predators in studies did not induce autotomy. == References ==