Description: The body is translucent white in colour with opaque white pigment on the tips of the oral tentacles and in a broken line along the centre of the back which becomes continuous on the long tail. The cerata are numerous and arranged in clusters along the sides and back of the body, almost hiding the white centreline. They are filled with red or orange-red granular digestive gland. The cerata have a thin, sometimes incomplete, ring of white pigment below the tip. Typically about 15mm-25mm in length, but well-fed individuals may be larger.

Habitat: A common species in early spring at shallow exposed sites and deeper water which is exposed to tidal streams. The normal food is the hydroid Tubularia indivisa but other smaller hydroids are eaten by juvenile specimens. The spawn consists of a thread which is laid in a smooth spiral like a clock spring.

Distribution: A northern species in the British Isles, occurring round Scotland and in the Irish Sea south to the Isle of Man, but apparently absent from the western coasts of Ireland and England. Further distribution includes Norway and the Atlantic coast of America.

Key Identification Features:

• Long tail with clear spots in white centreline.
• Thin white rings at the tips of the cerata.

Distribution Map from NBN: Coryphella verrucosa at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Coryphella verrucosa at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Coryphella verrucosa

WoRMS: Coryphella verrucosa at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Coryphella verrucosa (M. Sars, 1829). AphiaID: 139987.

Classification: Biota; Animalia; Mollusca; Gastropoda; Heterobranchia; Euthyneura; Ringipleura; Nudipleura; Nudibranchia; Cladobranchia; Fionoidea; Coryphellidae; Coryphella