About Melibe viridis (Kelaart, 1858)
Melibe viridis (Kelaart, 1858) can grow to a body length of 140 mm. Like some other nudibranch species, M. viridis has an oral veil that it uses to trap prey. This species has a distinctive morphology that allows it to be easily distinguished from other nudibranchs. Its body is elongated, and ranges in color from beige to brown. Members of the Melibe genus have a number of pairs of cerata running along the body, and each ceras functions as a gill. For M. viridis, the cerata are often darker in color than the body, and sometimes have an orange tip. The size of these cerata decreases towards the anterior end of the body. This species is found in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea off the coast of Phuket, and in waters off Mozambique and Indonesia. It inhabits sandy and muddy areas at depths between 3 m and 15 m.
