Flabellina pellucida is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine heterobranch mollusc in the family Flabellinidae. It is occasionally referred to as the milky white sea slug, the pellucid aeolid, or the red-gilled nudibranch, though these names are not commonly accepted in formal settings.
Description Flabellina pellucida has a translucent white body and opaque white pigment on the tips of the rhinophores, oral tentacles and cerata.Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2015). Flabellina pellucida (Alder & Hancock, 1843). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland. Accessed on 2015-3-25Flabellina pellucida (Alder & Hancock, 1843). Encyclopedia of Life. Accessed on July 5, 2012 The bodies of the cerata are bright red due to the presence and appearance of the nudibranch's digestive glands. These cerata are arranged in distinct clusters which extend from several common stalks known as peduncles.
The maximum recorded body length is Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776. or up to .
Distribution This species was described from a single specimen collected from deep water, off Cullercoats, England, North Sea. It has a northerly distribution in the UK, being found most regularly in Scotland.
Ecology It has been recorded at depths of up to . This species usually feeds on Eudendrium arbuscula, a hydroid in the family Eudendriidae.
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