I doubt that this species is belongs to molluska but Iam not sure to which group and I want to know the genus and species.
Dear Mohamed
I think you should provide more pictures of the animal from other directions, to give a global idea of it
At first sight, the ventral side [?] is reminiscent of a (highly retracted) polyplacophoran, especially because of what looks like ctenidia. But no visible signs of shells--Could it be one of the shell-less looking (those that have small shells or whose shells are covered by the girdle) families? Possibly a juvenile with plates not developed?
but how it will be without shell, if you look to dorsal surface you will find striation and the ventral side gas small difference because foot is not rounded
I am not an expert on Invertebrates. The animal in your photo looks to me a gastropod. An expert should be able to classify at least the genus. My impression is that it MAY belong to Patella genus. Could be a specimen which has not developed the calcareous shell?
Or a nudibranch. there are thousands sp. and several new species to be discovered. Do you know its origin?
I agree with Arturo H. Ariño.
It seems a juvenile of Polyplacophora, perhaps of the Family Mopaliidae (e.g. Cryptochiton). This specimen has several similar features: Head, mouth, palps, foot, ctenidia...
Best regards
Assuming it is indeed a molluscan and not some parasitized whatever (i.e. more than one animal) or something completely different (e.g. a strangely contorted polychaete), it's unlikely a nudibranch as gills and appendages should appear dorsally. A limpet would certainly have secondary gills around the mantle as in the picture, but these would be smooth, not branched. There's a similar-looking group with ctenidia as well: monoplacophorans (related to polyplacophorans), but these are mostly fossil except for a genus from deep seas, Neopilina, that anyway is smaller, has a shell, and only five smallish ctenidia at each side, so it's also unlikely that. I believe a juvenile chiton is still a reasonable bet.
Juvenile marine invertebrates are notoriously difficult to identify to species level. Perhaps you may consider sending the specimen to a specialist, or taking a new set of pictures trying to show more details.
Regards
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