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Eubranchus vittatus

Eubranchus vittatus (Alder & Hancock, 1842)

Eubranchus vittatus @ Sweden by Klas Malmberg

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 vittatus  (Alder & Hancock, 1842)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 139772).

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.

Synonyms

  • Cratena vittata (Alder & Hancock, 1842)
  • Eolis vittata Alder & Hancock, 1842 (original)
  • Galvina vittata (Alder & Hancock, 1842)

Description
It can reach more than 20 mm in length. The background body color is grayish white with brown or greenish spots and white scores scattered throughout the body. The oral tentacles and rhinophores are brown at the base, with white scores near the tip. Rhinophores are smooth and the oral tentacles are short. There are 7-8 groups of cerata on each side of the notum, the most anterior group is well separated from the others; The cerata are long, thin and smooth and have 3 bands of brown or green, the apex is white and, inside the cerata, the digestive gland is whitish.

Biology
It lives on rocky infralitoral walls associated with colonies of tecate hydrozoans such as Kirchenpaueria pinnata. The spawn is shaped like a ribbon with the shape of a cup and is laid on the same hydrarian. Because of its shape and color, it is very cryptic on the hydrozoan colonies it lives on.

Etymology

  • Eubranchus. From Greek “eu”, good, well + “bragchia”, gill.
  • Vittatus. From Latin “vittatus”, adorned with a narrow strip or band.

Distribution
There are very few reports of this species in Europe. It is a relatively abundant species in the British Isles but rare in the rest of the continent. It has also been found on the Galician coast. In Catalonia it is very rare as it has been observed just two times, a single specimen in Mar Menuda (Tossa de Mar) and a juvenile specimen in Llafranc.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Eubranchus vittatus
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 vittatus based on our own records.

More pictures

Eubranchus vittatus @ Portugal by João Pedro Silva
Eubranchus vittatus by Bernard Picton
Eubranchus vittatus @ Norway by Viktor Vasskog Grøtan

Bibliography

    Alder J, Hancock A. 1842. Descriptions of several new species of nudibranchous mollusca found on the coast of Northumberland. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9: 31-36.
    Ballesteros M. 2007. Lista actualizada de los opistobranquios (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 2(3):163–188.
    Ballesteros M. 1980. Contribución al conocimientos de los Sacoglosos y Nudibranquios (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Estudio anatómico, sistemático y faunístico de las especies del mediterráneo español. Tesis Doctoral. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2016. Actualización del catálogo de los moluscos opistobranquios (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 6:1–28.
    Ballesteros M, Pontes M, Madrenas E. 2019. Els nudibranquis del mar català. Figueres: Brau Edicions. 192 p.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2024. OPK - Opistobranquis. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/.
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    Cattaneo-Vietti R, Chemello R, Giannuzzi-Savelli R. 1990. Atlas of Mediterranean Nudibranchs. Rome, Italy: La Conchiglia. 264 p.
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    Cervera JL, Templado J, García-Gómez JC, et al. 1988. Catálogo actualizado y comentado de los Opistobranquios (Mollusca, Gastropoda) de la Península Ibérica, Baleares y Canarias, con algunas referencias a Ceuta y la isla de Alborán. Iberus, supl. 1: 1-84.
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    Ortea JA. 1980. Una nueva especie de Eubranchus (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) de Tenerife, Islas Canarias. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Oviedo (Serie Biología) 20-21: 169-176.
    Picton BE, Morrow C. 1994. Eubranchus vittatus accessed through: Nudibranchs of the British Isles on 2014-12-14. Available from http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=W15160#.
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    Pruvot-Fol A. 1954. Mollusques opisthobranches. Paris, France: Paul Lechevalier (Faune de France). 460 p.
    Rudman W.B. et al. 1998 2010. Eubranchus vittatus accessed through: Sea Slug Forum on 2014-12-14. Available from http://seaslugforum.net/showall/eubrvitt.
    Sabelli B, Gianuzzi-Savelli R, Bedulli D. 1990. Catalogo annotato dei Molluschi marini del Mediterraneo. Libreria Naturalistica Bolognese. Bologna, Italy: 348 pp.
    Seaward DR. 1982. Sea area atlas of the marine molluscs of Britain and Ireland. Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland / Nature Conservancy Council, 242 pp.
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    Step E. 1945. Shell life. An introduction to the British Mollusca, 443 pp, 32 pls. Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd., London.
    Templado J, Villanueva R. 2010. Checklist of Phylum Mollusca. pp. 148-198 In Coll, M., et al., 2010. The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats. PLoS ONE 5(8):36pp.
    Thompson TE. 1964. Grazing and the life cycles of British nudibranchs, pp 275-297, In: D. J. Crisp (ed ), Grazing in terrestrial and marine environments. British Ecological Society Symposium No. 4, 322 pp Blackwell, Oxford.
    Thompson TE. 1988. Molluscs: benthic opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) keys and notes for the  identification of the species. 2nd ed. Avon, Great Britain: Brill, E. J. & Backhuys, W. (Synopses of the British fauna,). 356 p.
    Thompson TE, Brown GH. 1984. Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs. Vol. 2. Ray Society, London 156, pp. 229:
    Thompson TE, Brown GH. 1976. British opisthobranch molluscs Mollusca: Gastropoda; keys and notes for the identification of the species. London: Acad. Pr. (Synopses of the British fauna). 203 S. p.
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    Urgorri V. 1981. Opistobranquios de Galicia: Estudio faunístico y zoogeográfico. Tesis doctoral. Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. 569 pp. p.
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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) "Eubranchus vittatus" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 05/10/2013. Accessed: 18/04/2024. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=10690)

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