Cratena peregrina
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]
Cratena peregrina | |
---|---|
Cratena peregrina | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | |
Class: | |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia clade Dexiarchia clade Cladobranchia clade Aeolidida |
Superfamily: | |
Family: | |
Subfamily: | |
Genus: | |
Species: | C. peregrina |
Binomial name | |
Cratena peregrina (Gmelin, 1791) | |
Synonyms | |
Cuthona peregrina (Gmelin, 1791) |
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 and 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]
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
- http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/cratpere
- http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche2.asp?fiche_numero=453
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cratena peregrina. |
- Photos of Cratena peregrina on Sealife Collection
- Photo study of the Cratena peregrina