ˈsea-slug
1. = trepang.
| 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 373 They lay at anchor, fishing for swallo, or sea slug, in seven or eight fathom water. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. ‘Extra’ 24 July 20/2 This so-called ‘Bêche de Mer’ is a sea-slug, found among the Polynesian islands and in the Pacific seas generally. |
2. Any marine gasteropod of the order Opisthobranchiata (see quot. 1879).
| 1845 Gosse Ocean iii. (1849) 133 Its [a whale's] support is derived from creatures of very small bulk..such as shrimps, sea slugs, sea blubbers, and animalcules still smaller. 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 130 The Cucumaria is a low radiate animal—the sea-slug is a far higher mollusc. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 550 The molluscs of this order [Opisthobranchiata] may be termed sea-slugs, since the shell, when it exists, is usually small and thin, and wholly or partially concealed by the animal. |