Embletonia pulchra

Embletonia pulchra (Alder et Hancock, 1844)

Embletonia pulchra by Enric Madrenas

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Cladobranchia  

 

Superfamily

[unassigned] Cladobranchia  

 

Family

Embletoniidae  

 

Genus

Embletonia  

 

Species

Embletonia pulchra  (Alder & Hancock, 1844)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 141638).
Synonyms

  • Embletonia faurei Labbé, 1923
  • Pterochilus pulcher Alder & Hancock, 1844 (original)

Description
This is a small sized nudibranch species that can reach 6-7 mm length. The body is basically coloured cream, semi-transparent, with the back and head region pigmented opaque white. The anterior margin of the head is bilobed, forming a kind of cephalic veil and without oral tentacles. The rhinophores are relatively short, share the same color of the body, and lack any lamellae. The eyes are located slightly behind the base of the rhinophores. There are only 6-7 cerata on each side of the body, the first of each side are well separated from the rest, often arranged quite to the end of the body, so that the last ones go beyond the end of the tail. The cerata are short and somewhat globose, with a wide apex in the center, marked by a small incision. The first two cerata of either side are positioned at the same level while the others are clearly interleaved. The cerata do not have cnidosacs at its end. The digestive gland is coloured greenish-brown or orange but it is not often seen due to the opaque white pigment of the skin surface of the animal. In depigmented specimens or animals that have not eaten for days, the digestive gland appears as a fine cord running along the back, mainly on the left side and with ramifications into each cerata. Inside of the cerata these gastrointestinal branching is also masked by the opaque white pigment on the surface, although it can be observed the cerata base and its ventral area, where the white pigment is not as dense. Ventrally, the mouth is in the center of the frontal cephalic veil and lacks any labial palps. The foot is narrow and rounded on the front side, and the tail is very short.

Biology
This is a species with very little biological data available. It has been cited living under stones, on floating buoys, on hydrozoans (Nemertesia, Hydrallmania) in amphioxus bottoms, sandy bottoms and mixed sand-gravel bottoms, from 0 to 60 m deep (Urgorri. 1981). Apparently it feeds on hydroids, but under laboratory conditions several specimens were capable of feeding on amfípods and solenogastre molluscs. The spawn is in a thin cord wound in a spiral of two turns and a half with two rows of eggs inside.

Etymology

  • Embletonia in honor to Denis Embleton, a victorian anatomyst at the Newcastle University.
  • Pulchra, from Latin, means pretty, beautiful, handsome, fine

Distribution
This species lives in European waters from Norway to the western Mediterranean and Black Sea. In the Iberian Peninsula it has been cited in the Galician coast, Portugal, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Levantine coast and Catalonia. In the Catalan coast it has been found in Es Caials, Cala Aiguafreda and Cova de La Vaca in the Medes islands.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Embletonia pulchra
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
Due to its physical traits it is not confused with any other species.

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★★☆☆☆
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Embletonia pulchra based on our own records.

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More pictures

Bibliography

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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. (2023) "Embletonia pulchra" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 30/08/2012. Accessed: 19/03/2024. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=2286)

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