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Red-finger aeolis
Mollusc
Red-finger aeolis
Coryphella verrucosa (Sars, 1829)
WoRMS AphialID
139987
Sample IDs
HMSC174-00046|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO009-23; HMSC174-01632|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO316-24; HMSC174-01633|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO317-24; HMSC174-03550|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO333-24; HMSC174-03552|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO334-24, HMSC174-03677|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO357-24; HMSC174_02776|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO496-25; HMSC174-02550|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO526-25
Collected
Brier Island NS, Grand Manan NB, Saguenay Fjord
QC, and Labrador, NL, from SCUBA hand collection of
seaweeds, bryozoans, and hydroids, 7-27 m depth.
Distinguishing Features
• Head: one pair of short propodial tentacles at the anterior edge of the foot and one pair of long,
smooth, pointed oral tentacles with a white stripe down the centre. The rhinophores are shorter
than the oral tentacles, ruguose, wrinkled, with an opaque white streak.
• Body: translucent white-peach, slender, tapering, the dorsum with a white medial stripe.
posteriorly to the tip of the pointed tail. With 6-7 clusters of slender, rounded cerata that can be
tan coloured to bright red-brown, with tips encircled by opaque white rings. The clusters can have
2-6 rows of 4 cerata per row.
• Size: to 30 mm.
Habitat
Intertidal to 200 m, on rocky bottoms among hydroids.
Geographic Range
Widespread in cold-temperate waters from the North Pacific, across the North Atlantic
and into the Arctic.
Fun Fact
This widespread aeolid is found typically in shallow waters, feeding on hydroids like the oaten
pipes hydoid, Tubularia indivisa. It can be difficult to distinguish from other species of Coryphella and so
the genetic barcodes helped us tease apart which species are present on our coast. C.verrucosa was the
most common in the Bay of Fundy, while Coryphella nobilis was found along the coast of Labrador (a
larger species with longer, more slender, warty, salmon-coloured cerata). A very similar species, Fjordia
browni, was found on a local shore (has longer cerata with a broad white ring below the tip). The colour
of the digestive gland within the cerata can vary based on diet, so this is not a reliable identification
feature, making this group very difficult to distinguish for the non-expert!
Barcode Distribution
Widespread BIN spanning North Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic coasts of North
America to Europe.
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