Candiella cincta (Pruvot-Fol, 1937)
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 | Tritonioidea |
| Family | Tritoniidae |
| Subfamily | Tritoniinae |
| Genus | Candiella |
| Species | Candiella cincta (Pruvot-Fol, 1937) |
- Tritonia cincta Pruvot-Fol, 1937 (Original)
- Tritoniopsis cincta (Pruvot-Fol, 1937)
Description
Maximum recorded body length of 16 mm. The body is high, translucent white or yellowish, with a quadrangular section, with a tapered tail. The dorsum is edged by a bright yellow marginal ridge that goes to the sides of the rhinophoral sheaths, which are quite high, and obliquely truncated, the upper border slightly widened and colored orange. The rhinophores are white and have a rather large club surrounded by bushy branches. The head has a yellow bordered oral veil with four white triangular digitations, the largest at the centre. There are two tall branched deep yellow or orange processes (gills) on each side of the body, widely separated from each other. There are always a few small red dots scattered on the dorsum. Foot anterior corners are rounded. The genital openings are on the right side of the body, slightly in front of the first gill, and the anus and the nephroproct slightly ahead of the second gill immediately below the notal margin.
Biology
Little is known from its biology. Most findings come from dredgings, but when directly observed at sea, it has been found in rocky bottoms covered by cnidarians on which it feeds (Cattaneo-Vietti et al., 1990). Despite its relatively stocky shape, it is extremely flexible.
Etymology
- Candiella. Classic authors did not usually explain the origin of the chosen names.
- Cincta, from Latin “cinctus”, surrounded, encircled, in reference to the yellow ridge surrounding the notum.
Distribution
Previously thought to be a strictly Mediterranean species, as it was first reported in Banyuls sur Mer, France (Pruvot-Fol, 1937) with some later reports from the Levantine coast of Spain (Templado et al. 1988; Moreno & Barrajón, 2012), the Ligurian Sea and the Gulf of Naples, Italy (Cattaneo-Vietti et al. 1990), but a recent finding from Donostia (Spain, NE Atlantic Ocean; 28 october 2016 by José Manuel Cerviño Pousada in “World of Nudibranchs” Facebook group) and another one in the Adriatic, at Due Sorelle, Monte Conero, Italy by Marco Buoncompagni (2017) considerable widens its distribution range. A finding in May 2020 at Racó d’en Bofill, Cadaqués by Anja Mares is the first report for Catalonia.
| Sources: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar species
Candiella odhneri, very similar but body completely white or grey, lacking the yellow border on the rhinophoric sheaths, nor other colour traits.
Abundance
| Western Mediterranean: | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Eastern Mediterranean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Atlantic Ocean: | ★☆☆☆☆ |
This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Candiella cincta based on our own records.
More pictures
Bibliography
Further reading
Cite this article as:
Pontes, Miquel, Manuel Ballesteros, Enric Madrenas (2025) "Candiella cincta" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 01/11/2016. Accessed: 03/09/2026. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=22719)
