Friend Or Foe?

TritonsGarden · Jan 17, 2009

Found this guy in our frag tank today. No idea where he came from or how long he's been there. Looks like some kind of nudi. It's about 2" long. Anyone know if he's bad?

Jack

seafansar · Jan 17, 2009

I have no clue, but you could ask someone on the seaslug forum site or at least browse through their species list.

gflat65 · Jan 18, 2009

Jack,

Does it have a shell like a stomatella? I've been finding some crazy stomatellas and chitons with those crazy spikes on the sides. Doesn't seem to, but thought I'd throw that out there.

Azurel · Jan 18, 2009

That looks like a nudi of some type to me as well.....As far as friend or foe most are such specialized feeders that it would be to hard to tell unless you see it on a coral or something.

TritonsGarden · Jan 18, 2009

No shell. It's about 1.5-2" long. It was on the sand bed inbetween some zoa frags. I haven't noticed anything that it's bothered but he's comming out. I don't like anything that ugly in the tank.

Jack

ahayes13 · Jan 18, 2009

maybe it could be this one... ???

Dendronotus frondosus
(Ascanius, 1774)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DENDRONOTINA
Family: Dendronotidae

DISTRIBUTION

Boreo-Arctic. In North Atlantic as far south as France (on European coast), and New Jersey (in North America). In North Pacific as far south as Los Angeles, California.
PHOTO

Zeelandbrug, Zierikzee, Oosterschelde, The Netherlands, 20 May 1999. PHOTO: Peter H. van Bragt.
Grows to about 100mm. Juvenile animals feed on calyptoblastic hydroids such as Sertularia cupressina & Dynamena pumila while adults feed on the gymnoblastic hydroids of the genus Tubularia. The quite unrelated Indo-West Pacific aeolid Pteraeolidia ianthina has an identical change in diet from small colonial calyptoblastic hydroids to larger gymnoblastic tubularians.
Taxonomically confused 'species'. Robilliard (1975) discusses the probability of at least 4 ecologically distinct species in NE Pacific.

Hypertek99 · Jan 18, 2009

Looks like a nudi to me too.

Angel2626 · Jan 19, 2009

I vote for nudi too. I would say to get him out of the tank now! Also, because I have heard that they breed very fast, keep an eye out for zoa's that aren't opening all the way or seem irritated, that could mean more where that came from. I've seen their eggs before and they actually lay them on the coral.