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Family  Juliidae

The Juliidae have shells of two halves, like a bivalve. They are derived from animals with coiled shells, not from bivalves as was thought when they were first seen in 1959. The shell is about half the length of the extended animal, and wide enough to allow the animal to withdraw completely into it. Shells reach up to about 5 mm, depending on the species. Juliids live on the alga Caulerpa in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal. They are light to dark green, and are adapted to their host alga by assuming its texture of beads, nodules, or folds. They may be quite common, but are difficult to find as they are so well camouflaged on their host.

Three species of this family are recorded from NSW:

Berthelinia australis (Burn, 1960)

Berthelinia limax (Kawaguti & Baba, 1959)

Berthelinia typica (Gatliff & Gabriel, 1911)

These are well illustrated in the Sea Slug Forum.