(Alder & Hancock, 1844)
Description:
In the North Sea, this delicate, flattened aeolid does not usually exceed 7 mm in length, pale pink in colour, obscured by dense white epidermal stippling. The digestive lobules vary from pale yellow to dark red-brown, usually pinkish, and the cerata, held at a low angle laterally, form a single series down each side of the body, consisting of up to 9 pairs in all. The frontal margin of the head is characteristically bilobed but lacks oral tentacles. The smooth rhinophores are set wide apart. Propodial tentacles are lacking.
Habitat:
This delicate aeolid occurs on intertidal and shallow sublittoral hydroids (e.g. Hydrallmania and Nemertesia ). Some authors have claimed that the diet also includes fish eggs and detritus. This species is also found in coarse sand and fine gravel together with typical mesopsammic animals.
Distribution:
Off the Isle of Man and various parts of Scotland, eastern England and the Channel (Distr. E. pulchra). Elsewhere, it has been recorded from Norway and Helgoland to Naples and Rovinj in the northern Adriatic Sea.