Eubranchus pallidus - Marine Life Encyclopedia

Eubranchus pallidus (Alder & Hancock, 1842)

Eubranchus pallidus

Description: The body and ceratal surfaces are pigmented with white and brown-red patches and there are yellow bands towards the tips of the cerata. The rhinophores and oral tentacles have a band of brown pigment and white pigment spots becoming dense at the tips. Alder & Hancock had a very pale individual as their type specimen, hence the somewhat inappropriate specific name; they later wanted to change the name to picta (painted)! Adults may reach 23mm in length.

Habitat: The adults may feed on the hydroid Tubularia, however juveniles usually take smaller calyptoblastic hydroids such as Obelia dichotoma, which often grows on Tubularia, and Halecium species.

Distribution: It is distributed all round the British Isles, America, Iceland and From Norway to the Mediterranean.

Key Identification Features:

Swollen cerata with yellow or white bands of pigment at the tip.
Brown and yellow-white pigment spots on body and cerata.

Distribution Map: NBN map : National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

WoRMS: Species record : World Register of Marine Species.

iNaturalist: Species account : iNaturalist World Species Observations database

Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2016). Eubranchus pallidus (Alder & Hancock, 1842). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.
https://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=W15140 Accessed on 2024-10-07

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