Cratena peregrina
| Cratena | |
|---|---|
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| Cratena capensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura |
| Superfamily: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | C. peregrina
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cratena peregrina (Gmelin, 1791)
| |
| Synonyms | |
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Cuthona peregrina (Gmelin, 1791) Doris peregrina Gmelin, 1791 (original combination) Hervia costai Haefelfinger, 1961 (synonym) | |
Cratena peregrina, commonly called the "pilgrim hervia", is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.[1]
Description
The pilgrim hervia is small aeolid sea slug, its average size is between 3 and 5 cm.[2] The body is thin and slender, with a long sharply pointed tail. Its body coloration is milky white with 8 to 10 clusters of dorsal cerata which can be bright red, purple, brown or blue, with the tips coloured in luminescent blue. Those cerata act like gills, and each one contains a terminal outgrowth of the digestive gland, a diverticulum.
The head, which is the same colour as the body, has a pair of bright orange rhinophores, and with two whitish long buccal tentacles, which look like horns.
Distribution & habitat
This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Channel south to Senegal.[3] This sea slug prefers to live on rocky bottoms and slopes in clear and well-oxygenated water, between 5 and 50 m in depth.[3]
Biology
The pilgrim hervia feeds on hydroids in the genus Eudendrium.[2]
References
- ^ Gofas, S. (2014). Cratena peregrina (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=146862 on 2014-09-10
- ^ a b http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/cratpere
- ^ a b http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche2.asp?fiche_numero=453
External links
