It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Goniodorididae.

This species was described from the Mediterranean Sea at Nice, France.

It has a wide distribution from there along the Atlantic coast to Norway, Greenland, Iceland and across to New England on the coast of North America.

Ancula pacifica apparently has a number of colour varieties which closely approach this species and is currently believed to be a synonym.

It has been reported to possibly feed on a variety of sessile organisms, but these are just the substratum to which the ectoprocts are attached.