(Lovén, 1846)
Description:
This is one of the largest British coryphellids, reaching 50 mm in length, having a translucent white body bearing a highly characteristic pattern of opaque white superficial stripes and blotches, taking the form in typical specimens of (a) a median dorsal line which bifurcates anteriorly, passing on to the oral tentacles, (b) a similar line down each flank, uniting on the metapodium with the median line, (c) a line down the back of each rhinophore from a white tip, (d) a line on the anterior face of each ceras, and (e) a sub-terminal broad band on each ceras. The cerata are clustered in 5-8 groups; the digestive gland lobes vary in colour from dark brown through reddish brown to crimson, with rare examples exhibiting green cerata (perhaps as the result of starvation).
Habitat:
Its principal food is the hydroid Tubularia indivisa.
Distribution:
This species occurs in offshore situations all around the British Isles, between 20 and 40 m in depth (Distr. C. lineata). Elsewhere, it has been found in abundance in the Mediterranean Sea (to Naples) and along the European Atlantic coasts to Norway and the Arctic Circle.