• Norwegian: stor frynsesnegl

Characteristics:

A. papillosa can reach a length of 12 cm. On the broad and depressed body there are approximately 25 rows of flattened cerata. The color may vary, but a large number of freckles make the appearance brown or orange. Some individuals have white v-shaped pattern on the head. The gap between the head tentacles are several times the thickness of an oral tentacle. A similar species, A. gauca, has a much narrower gap between the tentacles and have grey, superficial pigment on body and cerata. Another similar species, Aeolidiella alderi, can be distinguished from A. papillosa by the front row of cerata. These cerata have the digestive gland reaching only halfway up. The whitish cnidosac, where they store stinging cells from cnidarians they have eaten, are filling the cerata in stead and give the slug a collar of lighter cerata.

Habitat:

This is usually a shallow-water species feeding on anemones but has be registered as deep as 800 meters.

Distribution:

It is widespread in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific coasts of America, on both hemispheres.