Beroe gracilis

Künne, 1939

Description
Body slender cylindrical with slight lateral compression in the “tentacular” plane. Ciliary comb-rows equal in length extending from the aboral pole to about three quarters of the distance towards the mouth. There is a row of branched papillae in the from of a figure-8 around the pole plate at the aboral pole. The four meridional canals of each broad side are in connexion orally by means of the oral fork of the pharyngeal canal. The meridional canals have no side branches.

Colour
The adult has a milky appearance; some specimens may be coloured slightly pink. The pink colouration of the young is concentrated in pigment-spots.

Juveniles
The young can be distinguished from the other orders by the lack of tentacles and by the arrangement of the comb-rows, which are situated in 8 single rows as in the adults. The young cannot be distinguished from Beroe cucumis.

Size
Adult up to 30 mm high.

Depth range
No information available.

Distribution in the North Sea
Southern North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat.

World distribution
NE Atlantic and the coastal waters of NW Europe.

[After Greve, 1975]

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