Amphorina linensis (García-Gómez, Cervera & García, 1990)
WoRMS Taxonomic Information
Current classification
| Superdomain | Biota |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Mollusca |
| Class | Gastropoda |
| Subclass | Heterobranchia |
| Infraclass | Euthyneura |
| Subterclass | Ringipleura |
| Superorder | Nudipleura |
| Order | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder | Cladobranchia |
| Superfamily | Fionoidea |
| Family | Eubranchidae |
| Genus | Amphorina |
| Species | Amphorina linensis (García-Gómez, Cervera & F. J. Garcia, 1990) |
- Eubranchus linensis Garcia-Gomez, Cervera & Garcia, 1990: 585–593.
- Amphorina linensis (Garcia-Gomez, Cervera & Garcia, 1990): Martynov 1998: 775.
- Eubranchus tricolor: sensu Trainito & Doneddu, 2014: 118, non Forbes, 1838.
- Eubranchus sp. 1: Prkić et al., 2018: 353–357.
Description
Adult specimens can reach 30mm in length. Body narrow, translucent whitish or yellowish, but never with blackish non transparent pigmentation nor with homogeneous orange coloration. Sometimes with small white scores all over the body, foot and cerata. Some specimens have very distinctive reddish orange dorsal spots that never cover the tail. Adriatic specimens are often smaller and show a light blue hue covering cerata, rhinophores and oral tentacles giving the animal a bluish appearance; so far no specimens with red dorsal spots have been found in the Adriatic. Cerata of the color of the body, with the progressively whitish ends, never with a subapical pink ring. Cerata are tappered and quite inflated near the base, the largest in central position and arranged in groups. Inner digestive gland coloured gray or brown, visible by transparency. Smooth, relatively long rhinophores of the body color, commonly covered with relatively dense white dots with small insertions of yellowish brown pigment in some specimens, but without the formation of actual rings. Smooth oral tentacles, much shorter than the rhinophores, but similarly coloured. Slightly visible eyes at the base of the rhinophores. White translucent foot, quite wide, often with a distinct, sometimes dotted white line along the foot edge, without propodial palps, finished in a tappered tail.
Biology
It feeds on hydrarians of the Nemertesia, Obelia and Tubularia genera. Sweden specimens have always been found living below the halocline. Mediterranean specimens have been traditionally confused with the Atlantic species Eubranchus tricolor but they have obvious morphological differences. Recent work by Korshunova et al (2020) has allowed to clarify this situation.
Etymology
- Linensis. From “linense”, Spanish denomination to the inhabitants of the village of La Línea de La Concepción, Cádiz, Spain, near the Spanish border with Gibraltar.
Distribution
Basically present in the Eastern Atlantic, from Gibraltar to Sweden and Southwest Norway, and in the Mediterranean, where it is reported from Spain, France and Italy, also from the Adriatic. In the Iberian Peninsula it has only been reported in Catalonia, in the rocky bars off Mataró (Barcelona).
Abundance
Relative abundance of Amphorina linensis among the different marine basins, based on our own records
This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Amphorina linensis based on our own records.
This chart displays the number of annual observations of Amphorina linensis over the last 50 years, based on our own records. The trend should be interpreted with caution, as it may be biased by the growing popularity of this animal group.
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Bibliography
Further reading
Cite this article as:
Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2025) "Amphorina linensis" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 05/10/2013. Accessed: 29/10/2026. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=10689)