Loading AI tools
Species of gastropod From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phyllodesmium horridum, the coral nudibranch, is a species of sea slug, specifically an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.
Coral nudibranch | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | |
Class: | |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura |
Superfamily: | |
Family: | |
Subfamily: | |
Genus: | |
Species: | P. horridum |
Binomial name | |
Phyllodesmium horridum (Macnae, 1954)[1] | |
Synonyms | |
|
This species is found around the South African coast from False Bay to Sodwana Bay, intertidally to at least 30 m.[2] It has been erroneously reported from Australia and Japan due to confusion with Phyllodesmium serratum.
Around the South African coast, the coral nudibranch is typically between 30 and 40 mm[3] in total length. It is a slender pale-bodied aeolid with long paired pinkish cerata. The cerata have a bluish-white stripe running down their length, as does the body. The rhinophores are smooth. This species contains no zooxanthellae.[4]
Phyllodesmium horridum feeds on sea fans (gorgonians) of the genus Melitodes (family Melithaeidae).[2] It has also been reported to feed on gorgonians of the genus, Acabaria (also family Melithaeidae).[5] The egg ribbon is a gelatinous mass with many small white eggs.[6]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.