Flabellina gabinierei
Ghost aeolid
Israel · Mediterranean
- Size
- 20 mm
- Native range
- Mediterranean Sea (including Israel, Turkey, Croatia, France and Spain), with records from the adjacent Atlantic.
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Description
A small Mediterranean aeolid nudibranch described from La Gabinière islet (Port-Cros, France), now often placed in Paraflabellina. It lives on dimly lit rocky walls rich in algae and hydroids.
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Identification
White to slightly yellowish translucent body. Long, slender rhinophores and oral tentacles of similar length, transparent at the base and opaque white above. Cerata in 7–8 groups per side, thin and elongate, brown from the dark digestive gland, with whitish pointed tips.
Similar species
Flabellina affinis is pink-violet with purple-tipped cerata and a red-orange digestive gland; Cratena peregrina has two orange patches in front of the rhinophores and paler brown cerata with iridescent blue tips.
Habitat & diet
Habitat
Shaded rocky walls with abundant algae and hydroids.
Food
Hydroids, including Eudendrium, Obelia, Sertularella, Dynamena and Podocoryne.