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Sacoglossans are specialized marine herbivores that tend to have a close evolutionary relationship with their macroalgal hosts, but the widely distributed species  Elysia viridis  can associate with several algal species. However, most previous investigations on the field abundance and size distribution of  E. viridis  have focussed on  Codium  spp. in the British Isles, and algae from this genus are considered superior hosts for  E. viridis . In the present study, we investigated the abundance and size distribution of  E. viridis  on 6 potential host algae with differing morphologies (the septate species  Cladophora sericea ,  Cladophora rupestris ,  Chaetomorpha melagonium , and  Ceramium virgatum , as well as the siphonaceous species  Codium fragile  and  Bryopsis sp. ) at 2 sites on the Swedish west coast over the course of a year. In spring, slugs were almost absent from all algal hosts. In summer and autumn,  E. viridis  consistently occurred on several of the algal species at both sites. The highest number of small  E. viridis  were found on  C. sericea , intermediate numbers of significantly larger  E. viridis  were found on  C. rupestris , while fewer, intermediate sized animals were found on  C. fragile . Throughout the study period, only a few  E. viridis  individuals were found on  C. melagonium, Bryopsis sp. , and  C. virgatum . Our results indicate that  E. viridis  is an annual species in Sweden, capable of exploiting co-occurring congeneric and intergeneric algal hosts with differing morphologies. These results corroborate previous findings that  E. viridis  can exploit several different algal species, but does not indicate that  C. fragile  is a superior host.

Abundance and Size Distribution of the Sacoglossan Elysia viridis on Co-Occurring Algal Hosts on the Swedish West Coast