Scientific name: Facelinopsis marioni
(Vayssiere, 1888)
Common Name:
Area type: None in particular
Depth: Down to 12m
Measures: Up to 15mm
How does it look like?
They ahve a pink coloured body with a white line on the dorsal part. The olfatory and orientation organs (rinophores) are also pink, with white tips. The dorsal apendices are caracteristically curved with a front white coloured part.
Where does it live?
They live at the western Mediterranean.
How does it feed?
They feed on small polyps.
How do they reproduce?
All animals have both sexes (hermaphrodites). Usually they reproduce with other individuals, sticking their nail-shaped penis through their couples skin. Rarely selfreproduction. Nudibranchs typically lay their eggs in a gelatinous spiral.
Is a confusion possible?
There is no information of a possible confusion with other species.
Curiosities
· Facelina means lined face; "-opsis" is a suffix that means small or tiny. So his name means "small lined face"
· They store stinging capsules (cnidocysts) of polyps in their dorsal appendices (cerata) to defend them from potential predators
Taxonomy
Order: Nudibranchia, Suborder: Aeolidina, Family: Facelinidae
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