Cratena peregrina
| Cratena peregrina | |
|---|---|
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| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder: | Cladobranchia |
| Family: | Facelinidae |
| Genus: | Cratena |
| Species: | C. peregrina
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cratena peregrina (Gmelin, 1791)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Cuthona peregrina (Gmelin, 1791) | |
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
[edit]The pilgrim hervia is an 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 and habitat
[edit]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
[edit]The pilgrim hervia feeds on hydroids in the genus Eudendrium.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ 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 "The Sea Slug Forum - Cratena peregrina". 15 July 2010.
- ^ a b "Cratena peregrina | DORIS".
External links
[edit]
- Photos of Cratena peregrina on Sealife Collection
- Photo study of the Cratena peregrina