Brown Line Paper Bubble

Brown Line Paper Bubble

No good photo of this species is available yet, so this Illustration was created with ChatGPT Image 2.5. It is an attempt to get the anatomy and features right, and may contain small errors.

Name: Brown-Line Paper Bubble
Scientific Name: Hydatina physis
Scientific Family: Aplustridae
Source: WoRMS AphiaID 215423
Size: up to 2 in.
Depth Range: In shallow waters (0 – 15 ft.)
Sightings: Almost never seen

The Brown-Line Paper Bubble has a thin, fragile, rounded white shell with narrow black to brown spiral lines. Its head shield and side flaps are pink to purple-red with pale edges. Its oval body can extend well outside the shell but cannot pull fully inside it.

The Brown-Line Paper Bubble crawls over sand, seagrass and coral-covered bottoms while searching for polychaete worms. Its long feeding tube reaches into worm tubes. It can swim, camouflage itself and use toxins from its prey for defense.