Cinder Lichen vs common grey sea slug

Aspicilia cinerea compared with Aeolidia papillosa

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cinder Lichen	common grey sea slug
Kingdom	Fungi (Fungi)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)	Mollusca (Mollusks)
Class	Lecanoromycetes (Lecanoromycetes)	Gastropoda (Gastropoda)
Order	Pertusariales (Pertusariales)	Nudibranchia (Nudibranchia)
Family	Megasporaceae	Aeolidiidae
Genus	Aspicilia	Aeolidia
Species	Aspicilia cinerea	Aeolidia papillosa

Conservation Status

Cinder Lichen

LC — Least Concern

common grey sea slug

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cinder Lichen	common grey sea slug
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cinder Lichen

Habitat

Native to Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and United States.

common grey sea slug

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial and aquatic habitats including forests and freshwater.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Cinder Lichen

Cinder lichen (Aspicilia cinerea) is a crustose lichen in the family Megasporaceae, found widely across the Northern Hemisphere in boreal, montane, and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. It grows as a flat, gray to ash-gray crust on exposed siliceous rock surfaces—particularly granite, gneiss, and other hard acidic rocks—in open, high-light environments such as moorland boulders, mountain crags, stream-side rocks, and coastal outcrops. The cinder lichen's granular to warty thallus and its pale gray color, reminiscent of volcanic ash or cinder, give the species its common name. Aspicilia cinerea is classified as Least Concern, with widespread and abundant populations in suitable rocky habitats. Like many saxicolous lichens, it is extremely slow-growing and may live for centuries on stable rock surfaces. The species forms part of diverse epilithic lichen communities that colonize bare rock and contribute to biological weathering and soil formation. It is resistant to desiccation and temperature extremes, making it well adapted to exposed subalpine and arctic environments. Cinder lichen has been used as a model organism in studies of lichen growth rates and rock weathering. The genus Aspicilia is one of the largest in lichenized fungi, and molecular work has substantially revised its circumscription.

common grey sea slug

<em>Aeolidia papillosa</em>, commonly known as the common grey sea slug, is a nudibranch mollusc belonging to the genus Aeolidia within the family Aeolidiidae. Despite the species name referencing terrestrial and aquatic habitats including forests and freshwater, <em>Aeolidia papillosa</em> is primarily a marine organism. Its range includes Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, indicating a distribution across the North Atlantic and into South American waters. Common grey sea slug is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The species is typically found in intertidal and subtidal zones, where it preys on sea anemones and stores stinging cells from its prey in its dorsal cerata for defense. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.