Cuthona amoena

(Alder & Hancock, 1845)

Description:
This delicate aeolid does not exceed 10 mm in length. Small cream-white spots are scattered over the dorsum and may be raised upon tubercles on the head, between the rhinophores, and over the pericardial prominence. Brown or olive-green pigment mottles much of the body surface, while the oral tentacles are encircled by a reddish brown or olive band below an opaque white tip; the rhinophores are similarly marked. The cerata are usually set in three rows anterior to the pericardium, with five more posterior rows on either side. The hepatic contents vary between sandy brown and olive-green, often darkest near the bases. Reddish brown epidermal pigment is usually concentrated around the ceratal bases. The metapodium is streaked dorsally with white. The propodium is expanded laterally but lacks tentacles.

Habitat:
It is usually feeding on species of the hydroid Halecium .

Distribution:
It is reliably reported from Morocco, the western Mediterranean, and the Atlantic coasts of Europe as far north as the Skagerak and the Orkney Islands (Distr. C. amoena).

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