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Description
Pelagella (Gray, 1850) is a genus of nudibranchs in the family Goniodorididae. It was resurrected in 2023, after more than a century with its species placed in Goniodoris, on the basis of molecular analysis; the type species is P. castanea. That species is recorded from the north-east Atlantic and the Mediterranean (for example France and Italy), reaches about 40 mm, and is reported to feed exclusively on colonial tunicates of the family Botryllidae. The genus status could not be checked in WoRMS (page access was blocked).
Identification
In P. castanea the colour is red-brown to dark brown (sometimes pale greyish-brown) with white spots and fine white lines. The mantle edge is sharply defined with marginal tubercles; the rhinophores are brownish with white markings and 7 to 9 lamellae, and about eight tripinnate gills are arranged around the anus. These are species-level descriptions, not a general diagnosis of the genus.
Species in this genus (1)
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