Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Cladobranchia Tritonioidea Candiella plebeia

Candiella plebeia

Candiella plebeia (Johnston, 1828)

Candiella plebeia by Bernard Picton

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Cladobranchia  

 

Superfamily

Tritonioidea  

 

Family

Tritoniidae  

 

Subfamily

Tritoniinae  

 

Genus

Candiella  

 

Species

Candiella plebeia  (G. Johnston, 1828)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 1321828).
Taxonomic note: Genus Duvaucelia is reinstated after the paper by Korshunova & Martynov (2020) to differentiate the small Tritoniidae with non-bilobed frontal veil and a moderate number of lateral teeth in radula, mostly inhabiting European temperate and subtropical waters.
In 2023 the genus name Duvaucelia changes again to Candiella as per De Vasconcelos et al. (2023) based on the fact that the original description of Duvaucelia gracilis does not refer to a specimen of Duvaucelia manicata (incorrectly synonymized in the past with Duvaucelia gracilis, type species of the genus Duvaucelia), so they propose the synonymy of Duvaucelia gracilis with Marionia blainvillea instead. Therefore, Duvaucelia is currently not a valid genus and the name Candiella is revived based on the type species Candiella plebeia.
Actual species composition for the genus Candiella is: Candiella cincta (Pruvot-Fol 1937) comb. nov., Ca. coralliumrubri (Doneddu et al. 2014) comb. nov., Ca. lineata comb. nov., Ca. manicata comb. nov., Ca. odhneri comb. nov., Ca. pallescens Eliot 1906 comb. nov., Ca. plebeia, Ca. striata comb. nov. and Ca. taliartensis Ortea and Moro, 2009 comb. nov.

Synonyms

  • Sphaerostoma aurantiacum Barnard, 1927
  • Tritonia aurantiaca (Barnard, 1927)
  • Tritonia aurantiacum [sic]
  • Tritonia pulchra Johnston, 1828
  • Tritonia plebeia Johnston, 1828
  • Duvaucelia plebeia (Johnston, 1828)

Description
It can reach a size of 25 mm. Quadrangular section body. Its general coloration is pale yellowish with dark brown spots all over the body; its body darkens as the animal grows. There is often a darker brown spot just behind each rhinophore. The cephalic veil has 6 short finger-like processes. Rhinophores with short elongated processes directed obliquely forward; rhinophoric sheath elevated and slightly widened at its upper margin. Up to 5 branchial appendages branching on each side of the back and of unequal size.

Biology
It lives in hard bottoms, from the intertidal zone on the Atlantic coasts to more than 100 m deep. In the Atlantic it is proven that it feeds on the cnidarian Alcyonium digitatum, while in the Mediterranean it has been observed on gorgonians such as Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella singularis. The spawn is a somewhat scalloped and spirally wound white cord of 4-5 turns with very small eggs of 80-90 microns.

Etymology

  • Candiella. Classic authors did not usually explain the origin of the chosen names.
  • Plebeia, from Latin “plebeius”, of the people.

Distribution
It lives on the European Atlantic coasts from Norway to the Iberian Peninsula. Also in the western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. It has been registered on the American Atlantic coast as a non-indigenous species. On the Catalan coast it has been reported in Port de la Selva and in commercial trawling grounds near Lloret and Blanes.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Candiella plebeia
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Similar species
Marionia blainvillea, juveniles are similar but have more branchial appendages on the edge of the notum, which is scalloped and not smooth as in Ca.plebeia.

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★☆☆☆☆
[wpbi_chart type="bar" id="1" height="250" /]
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Candiella plebeia based on our own records.

More pictures

Candiella plebeia by João Pedro Silva
Candiella plebeia spawn coils – Rathlin Island, Co Antrim, Ireland by Bernard Picton
Candiella plebeia @ Netherlands 4-07-2018 by Stefan Verheyen
Candiella plebeia by Manuel Ballesteros
Candiella plebeia by Manuel Ballesteros
Candiella plebeia by Manuel Ballesteros

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    Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Candiella plebeia" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 05/10/2013. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=10734)