Family
Tritoniid nudibranchs
Tritoniidae
- Species in the gallery
- 5
- Genera
- 3
Back to superfamily Tritoniid nudibranchsBack to sub-order Cladobranch nudibranchsBack to order NudibranchsBack to the gallery
Description
Tritoniidae is a family of nudibranchs in the superfamily Tritonioidea (suborder Cladobranchia), currently divided by WoRMS into the subfamilies Tritoniinae and Marioniinae, with genera such as Tritonia, Tritoniopsis, Tochuina and Marionia. Members range from polar and cold-temperate waters to tropical reefs, and several species occur in the Mediterranean, for example Tritonia striata and Marionia blainvillea. They feed on octocorals such as soft corals, sea fans and sea pens. Tritonia species have been important model animals in neurobiology because of their large, identifiable nerve cells.
Identification
Tritoniids have a soft, often flattened body with a row of small branched or tufted gills along each side of the back, rather than cerata or a gill ring. The head carries a frontal veil with finger-like processes, and the rhinophores rise from sheaths and end in a crown of branched filaments. They resemble Dendronotidae, but those have taller, tree-like cerata and branched processes on the rhinophore sheaths, and Tritoniids are usually found on or near octocorals.
Genera
5 species
Sources (3)
Share link: https://seaslugs.org.il/family/Tritoniidae/