Favorinus branchialis
(Rathke, 1806)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Glaucidae

DISTRIBUTION

Coast of Europe from Murmansk and Norway to the Mediterranean, and south along the west African coast.

PHOTO

Gran Canaria Island, Canary Ids, off west African coast. Approx 1 cm, depth 8 m, February 1998. PHOTO: Arthur J. Telle.

Grows to about 25mm. Body transucent whitish with a fairly charcteristic pattern of opaque white which includes a band on the dorsum which separates to form a elongate ring around the pericardium. Cerata have varying amounts of white pigmentation on the skin, the dominant colour of the cerata being dependant on the colour of the food contained in the duct of the digestive gland which runs up each ceras.

Like all species of Favorinus it feeds on sea slug eggs, including Sea Hares and nudibranchs. It has also been reported to feed on the hydroid Obelia at certain times of the year, and a number of authors have reported that it possesses a cnidosac at the tip of each ceras.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2000 (May 8) Favorinus branchialis (Rathke, 1806). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/favobran

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