Kankelibranchus alhenae

The general colouration of the body is hyaline white, with a reticulate orange pattern similar to branches of the bryozoan on which the animals were living (Cauda sp.), whose fabric and complexity increases with the size of the animals. In the smallest, 1–2 mm in length, there are only four fragmented orange lines in the anterior half of the body and four more on the tail, which is anastomosed between; in addition, shows some white pigment and a yellowish spherical structure in the middle of the tail. When it reaches the size of 15 mm, the network of orange lines on the body becomes more apparent, and between them are observed conical tubercles and snow-white and black dots, the white pigment being more abundant in the anterior half of the body and black on the back; on the back of the tail and to the sides of it there are tubercles with white greater size that of the region above body. Finally, in the animals of 20–25 mm, the cross-linked orange peel becomes more apparent and the white tubercles in the anterior half form a cross on the head whose long arm stretches between the two rhinophores. The head is as wide as the region of the gill and the appearance of the animal is more robust to slender, with the sides of the body parallel, narrowing abruptly to the tip of the tail. …

This species was described from seven specimens collected at 1–8 m depth at Maria La Gorda, Guanahacabibes, Pinar del Rio, Cuba.