Family
Tethydid nudibranchs
Tethydidae
- Species in the gallery
- 4
- Genera
- 1
Back to superfamily Dendronotid nudibranchsBack to sub-order Cladobranch nudibranchsBack to order NudibranchsBack to the gallery
Description
Tethydidae, the hooded nudibranchs, is a family in the superfamily Dendronotoidea (suborder Cladobranchia); WoRMS now includes both Tethys and Melibe in it. The family occurs worldwide in temperate and tropical seas; Tethys fimbria is a large Mediterranean species, and Melibe viridis has spread into the Mediterranean from the Indo-Pacific. Unlike most nudibranchs they have no radula and catch small crustaceans and other plankton with a huge expandable oral hood. Many can swim by flexing the body from side to side and can shed their cerata when attacked.
Identification
The giveaway is the enormous, translucent oral hood at the front of the body, often fringed with small tentacles, that the animal casts over the substrate or water like a net. The back bears a row of large, flattened, leaf- or paddle-shaped cerata on each side, and the rhinophores sit in sheaths on top of the hood. No other family has this combination of a net-like hood and big leafy cerata.
Genera
4 species
Sources (3)
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/family/Tethydidae/