Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Cladobranchia Fionoidea Eubranchus tricolor

Eubranchus tricolor

Eubranchus tricolor  Forbes, 1838

Eubranchus tricolor @ Norway by Viktor Vasskog Grøtan

Taxonomy
 

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

Eubranchus  

 

Species

Eubranchus tricolor  Forbes, 1838

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 139771).

Taxonomic note: The phylogenetic analyses performed by Cella et al. (2016) revealed that the traditional Tergipedidae family is polyphyletic and belongs to a larger monophyletic clade including members of the traditional families Eubranchidae, Fionidae and Calmidae; this was an unexpected result, since the validity of these taxa and their distinctness from the Tergipedidae was never questioned before. They proposed to join the families Tergipedidae, Eubranchidae, Calmidae and Fionidae under the name of Fionidae. This decision has been reinterpreted and completed in the paper by Korshunova et al. (2017) because it obviated evident morphological and molecular aspects.

The Mediterranean specimens identified as Eubranchus tricolor are clearly not conspecific to the Atlantic specimens, but they are quite similar to Eubranchus farrani form “D”, although they could be a new unidentified species (see pictures below).

Synonyms

  • Egalvina viridula (Bergh, 1873)
  • Eolis amethystina Alder & Hancock, 1845 
  • Eolis tricolor (Forbes, 1838) 
  • Eolis violacea Alder & Hancock, 1844 
  • Galvina tricolor (Forbes, 1838) 
  • Galvina viridula Bergh, 1873 

Description

Biology

Etymology

  • Eubranchus. From Greek “eu”, good, well + “bragchia”, gill.
  • Tricolor. From Latin “tres”, three + “color”, colour.

Distribution
Basically an Atlantic species. Mediterranean specimens, despite the high similarity, are probably a different species, hence we label them as Eubranchus cf. tricolor.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Eubranchus tricolor
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

Abundance

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

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Eubranchus tricolor based on our own records.

More pictures

Eubranchus tricolor by Bernard Picton
Eubranchus tricolor @ Norway by Viktor Vasskog Grøtan
Eubranchus tricolor @ Norway by Viktor Vasskog Grøtan

Bibliography

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Further reading

Cite this article as:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Eubranchus tricolor" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 14/09/2014. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=14405)