brush nudibranch | |
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Brush nudibranch with egg ribbons | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura |
Superfamily: | Tritonioidea |
Family: | Tritoniidae |
Genus: | Tritonia |
Binomial name | |
Tritonia sp.2 |
The brush nudibranch, Tritonia sp. 2, as designated by Gosliner, 1987, is a species of dendronotid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tritoniidae. As at November 2009, it remained undescribed by science.
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This species has only been found off South Africa, from the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula to Jeffreys Bay, intertidally to 40 m.[1] It appears to be endemic.
The brush nudibranch reaches 50 mm in size. Its body is apricot-coloured with clusters of white spots on its notum. Its short rhinophores extend from cup-like sheaths. It has short paired branching projections down the length of its body. Short branching tentacles extend from the front of its head.[2]
The brush nudibranch probably feeds on soft corals. Its egg mass is opaque, white and highly convoluted.