Back to superfamily Side-gilled sea slugsBack to order Side-gilled sea slugsBack to the gallery
Pleurobranchidae
Pleurobranchidae are the side-gilled slugs, the main family of the order Pleurobranchida within Heterobranchia; they are not nudibranchs. The family includes several genera such as Pleurobranchus, Berthella and Berthellina, and occurs in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, including the Mediterranean. Many species retain a thin internal shell under the mantle. Most feed on sponges or ascidians, and the skin can secrete acid as a chemical defence.
Oval, soft-bodied slugs with a broad smooth or tuberculate mantle and a single feathery gill hidden on the right side between mantle and foot, not on the back. The rhinophores are rolled (tubular) and emerge from the front edge of the mantle, above a wide oral veil. Unlike dorids, there is no circle of gills on the back.
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/family/Pleurobranchidae/
