Eubranchus doriae

(Trinchese, 1874)

Description:
This species reaches only 6 mm in length in the British Isles (8 mm in the Mediterranean Sea). The body is white, mottled with brown or olive green, darkest between the bases of the cerata, which are themselves mottled with brown, interrupted by 2-3 rings of pale nodular tubercles. Each ceras contains a pale cream or yellow hepatic lobe and has a pale tip overlain by a pale brown ring of superficial pigment. There may be up to 7 transverse rows of cerata, each with 5-6 (maximally 8) cerata in each half-row. The tentacles have white tips and dark brown subterminal bands.

Habitat:
It is known to feed upon the hydroid Plumularia setacea.

Distribution:
There are few reliable records of E. doriae. The only English records are from Lundy Island and from Pagham Harbour (Sussex). Elsewhere, it is known from the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, and from the Mediterranean Sea, to Naples (Distr. E. doriae).

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