(Alder & Hancock, 1844)
Description:
This species has in the past often been confused with Eubranchus tricolor , but E. farrani is more slender, smaller, with fewer cerata of less compressed shape, and different colour patterns. The present species does not exceed 20 mm in extended length and has an elongated appearance.
The body is typically white or grey-white, with orange-tipped rhinophores and oral tentacles (sometimes with white tips), with scattered orange spots and blotches on the dorsum, and white inflated cerata having a conspicuous subterminal orange or yellow ring. Occasional variants show individual exaggeration of certain of the component markings. The entire body, cerata and all, may be of a beautiful golden hue. In others there may be brown patches on the body, and in one specimen (from Pembrokeshire) nearly the whole body was dark brown in colour. Other specimens may have orange blotches ringed with blue, and the juveniles may exhibit no colour at all other than the pale brown or pink hepatic contents of the cerata (E. farrani-variations). These cerata are arranged in up to 10 rows, of up to 5 cerata in each half-row (E. farrani-lateral view).
Habitat:
This species occurs in shallow sublittoral waters to 30 m, feeding upon hydroids such as Obelia geniculata attached to kelps.
Distribution:
It occurs from Norway and the Atlantic coast of France (Distr. E. farrani) to the western Mediterranean (Naples).