31 Rissoa membranacea.

31 Rissoa membranacea.

Pile of white ova near leaf tip is within a low domed capsule; so transparent as to be invisible in this image.
See nature22.com/estran22/estran.html
Smooth specimens, like this one, are far less frequent than ribbed ones in Bretagne (in litt. M. Cochu). It seems that ribbed ones become more frequent in southern populations, but they do occur as far north as the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. So ribbing may be promoted by other factors as well as warmth. R. membranacea feeds by grazing detritus, diatoms and other microphytes from the surface of Zostera and plants with similar structure, such as Posidonia in the Mediterranean (image M. Mattana flic.kr/p/nPiS2k ) and, sometimes, other seaweeds. Grazing probably benefits the plants by keeping them clean for photosynthesis but, when the population is dense, they do feed on the substance of the plants and, occasionally, have a damaging effect. On Zostera. Bretagne, France. October 2012 © Marc Cochu.

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