Purple flabellina
Flabellina affinis
- Scientific name
- Flabellina affinis
- Group
- Nudibranchs & Molluscs
- Rarity
- Common
- Where to see it
- Mediterranean
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Not evaluated
Did you know?
The vivid purple flabellina feeds on stinging hydroids, harvesting their venomous cells without digesting them and storing them in the finger-like projections on its back to reuse for its own defense. This trick of "stealing" stinging cells is called kleptocnidy.
What defines this group — Nudibranchs & Molluscs
Sea snails, with or without a shell — nudibranchs traded theirs for warning colours.
- “Nudibranch” means naked gills: the plume on the back is their breathing apparatus.
- Two rhinophores on the head act as a nose, following scent trails.
- Many recycle the venom of their prey — anemones, hydroids — for their own defence.