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Painted Balloon Aeolis
Mollusc
Painted Balloon Aeolis
Eubranchus tricolor Forbes, 1838
WoRMS AphialID
139771
Sample IDs
HMSC174_03170|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO385-25; HMSC174_03188|https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCMO389-25
Collected
Sandy Island NB and the Wolf Islands NB, from SCUBA hand collection of hydroids and a scallop trawl, 18-35 m depth.
Distinguishing Features
• Head: rhinophores and oral tentacles are smooth and typically lack pigment. With a small pair of eyes near the base of the rhinophores.
• Body: translucent with narrow brown digestive gland showing through the cerata. Cerata are numerous, inflated, swollen at the base, and somewhat flattened. They have a distinctive tricolor ring with an orange-brown subterminal band positioned above a white ring and below the chalk white tips (white-yellow-white pattern)
• Size: to 45 mm.
Habitat
Subtidal rocky bottoms to 128 m, on hydroids.
Geographic Range
Amphi-Atlantic distribution, common in Europe. In the Northwest Atlantic, occurring in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine.
Fun Fact
These striking sea slugs are named after their inflated, balloon-like, and tri-colour cerata. Juveniles (see image) are white-translucent all over and lack these pigmented rings. Like many nudibranchs, they feed on hydroids and incorporate their stinging cells into their own tissue for defense, turning food into protection. Like all nudibranchs, they are hermaphrodites.
Barcode Distribution
Unique BIN, sister to, but 3.5% divergent from European specimens of this species.
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