Philine catena (Montagu, 1803)

Salvador, Xavier, Fernández-Vilert, Robert & Moles, Juan, 2022, Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda), Journal of Natural History 56 (5 - 8), pp. 265-310 : 270-271

Philine catena (Montagu, 1803)

( Figure 2 (d))

Material examined

Cala Maset caves, Sant Feliu de Guíxols ( Spain), 41°47 ʹ 10”N, 3°2 ʹ 44”E, 13 December 2017, 1.3 m depth, 1 spc., adults, L = 5 mm; Punta del Romaní , L’Escala ( Spain), 42°6 ʹ 54”N, 3°10 ʹ 9”E, 30 December 2017, 2.5 m depth, 2 spcs, adults, L = 3–7 mm; Cala d’Aiguafreda, Begur ( Spain), 41°57 ʹ 49”N, 3°13 ʹ 41”E, 31 January 2018, 1.2 m depth, 1 spc., adult, L = 5 mm.

External morphology

Body elongate, narrow, white-beige or brown, with a discontinuous dark brown band over cephalic shield. Cephalic shield longer than shell. Parapodia short, not overlapping. Shell completely covered by mantle. Individuals likely hide in the sediment during the day and are active at night.

Ecology

Specimens were found crawling at night on rocks with algae and sediment between rocky outcrops.

Distribution

North Sea (GBIF.org 2021); Azores ( Cervera et al. 2004); Portugal ( Cervera et al. 2004); Italy and Croatia ( Zenetos et al. 2016); Greece ( Crocetta et al. 2015); Atlantic Spanish coast: Galicia and Cantabria ( Cervera et al. 2004); Mediterranean Spanish coast: Catalonia (this study).

Remarks

Molecular and morphological data indicate that this species may not belong to the genus Philine (J. Moles unpubl. data).

Figures

Figure 2. Photographs of live Cephalaspidea species: (a) The alien Haloa japonica. (b) Haminoea orteai. (c) Egg mass of Haminoea orteai. (d) Philine catena. The Nudibranchia species: (e) Aegires palensis. (f) White morphotype of Aegires sublaevis. (g) Aldisa smaragdina on top of the sponge Phorbas topsenti. (h) Okenia longiductis on the bryozoan Amathia verticillata.