Purple Flabellina

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Slender and elongated, the purple flabellina ranges in colour from translucent pink to a deeper violet. Its back is covered in groups of elongated, semi-transparent cerata, through which orange to red shades associated with digestion can be seen. Their tips are often paler, almost white. Its head bears two long, smooth rhinophores used to sense its surroundings, as well as two slender oral tentacles, also often paler at their tips. Together, they give it a light, elegant silhouette.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

It is found in the Mediterranean Sea and nearby Atlantic, on rocky seabeds, in algae-rich areas or on substrates colonised by hydroids. It generally lives between a few metres and around forty metres deep, often where currents favour the growth of its prey.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

The purple flabellina mainly feeds on hydroids. It eats their polyps and takes some of their stinging cells, which it stores in its cerata for defence. This specialised diet makes it dependent on the presence of these small attached colonies.