Nudibranchs going to their deaths.
Hi Bob,
It's Mike (PF) again,
While I was looking for other sources for live rock I came across https://www.gulf-view.com, aka Marine Life, Inc. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them or not, they are a Florida aquacultured rock outfit.
<Yes, know of the company>
While I applaud their efforts re aquaculturing live rock, they are selling H. edenticulas, aka Greek Goddess Nudibranchs as reef cleaners on their "special" page. I am writing them to inform them of the error of their ways and was wondering if you could add your voice in too, since your are a far more well known and respected member of the community than I am.
<Will, gladly... by strange coincidence am doing some penance and spiffing up the "Nudibranch" page on WWM... have a couple of thousand (not a mis-print unfortunately) of mainly Nikonos extension tube shots of members... and could absolutely strangle (myself and) Helmut Debelius for his "reference" work on the group... either he's wrong on i.d.'s a great deal of the time, or the academic community are having a go with the public... Anyhow, please do addend your note to Marine Life with this small response, the link to the "Nudi" pc: http://WetWebMedia.Com/nudibran.htm and an offer on my part to lend them pix, info. if they'd like.>
I hope I'm not imposing on you, but from all I've seen and read, and from talking to you online, I gathered you're against
this sort of practice.
<Never an imposition my friend. Your input is applauded. Bob Fenner>
Thanks again,
Mike

Nudibranch mis-purchase
HI bob I purchased this strange looking creature today. It looks like a slug or snail without a shell. It is about inch & half long. The body is a purple with a pink tone. There is a solid white border around the top. On the top there are two tentacles which always remain extended. Then in the back there are approximately ten tentacles which extend and retract from time to time.
It has placed itself on atop a piece of live rock.
Could you please advise what it maybe and what coral it could hurt if any. Thanks for your time.
Regards !!!
<Yikes... very likely you're describing some sort of Nudibranch... please read over the scant coverage of these "naked gill snails" on the www.WetWebMedia.com site... if you just have this one small one in a sizeable system it will likely not cause much pollution if/when it perishes (most have quite restricted diets...). And your other livestock will very likely leave it alone. Bob Fenner>

Re: Nudibranch mis-purchase
Dear Lorenzo-
I understand that your mailbox may be full filling in for Bob in his absence. As they say curiosity killed the cat but they do have nine lives. 
<I wonder how many catfishes have?>
I am anxious to know the name of the creature I described in my message dated 6/6/01 below. Any information you can forward ASAP would be greatly appreciated. I want to also determine what it eats.
Since I wrote you on 6/6 this creature has placed something resembling a very thin membrane but I don't know if it is waste or maybe eggs. It is extremely thin and is stuck on a plastic tube which is in the tank. The size about is about 1/2 inch long. I have noticed that it must be very strong because it hangs of the live rock in mid air for awhile at a time. Only a small fraction of its body stays anchored on the rock.
Pls see my below for my original message.
<Ah, still that unidentified Nudibranch... sad to state, most of these exquisite animals die of a lack of nutrition in captivity. I re-direct you to the article and FAQs file on this group posted on our site: www.WetWebMedia.com and the Internet for much more... Bob Fenner>
Thanks for your assistance and prompt attention.
Regards
Cecilia Dowd-Kozak

Nudibranch?
Sorry to bother you again bob, but while I was contemplating my Aiptasia problem, staring at my little slice of the marine world and getting lost in the tranquility and beauty of it all... I noticed a little white critter... he was minute, perhaps a 1/4" max? pure white... I noticed some appendages on the front that looked reminiscent of the rhinophores on Nudibranchs? but none of the pictures on WWM look even remotely close.
<Possibly a "naked gill gastropod" my friend... WWM is in deed a work in progress... but you and I together would never document even the known aeolids (let alone dorids) in our lifetimes (discounting Wednesday nights out to the pub, chasing skirts...)>
it has approx. 3 or 4 small appendages along it's back... but total lack of coloration... some sort of juvenile? is this guy a reef menace? 
<Possibly to the first, unlikely to the last>
I first saw him creeping towards my green star polyps and since I read about some Nudibranchs feasting on soft corals I sucked him up with an eye dropper and deposited on the opposite side of the tank...
temporary solution at best if he is a coral muncher... any info would be appreciated.
<Enjoy this world my friend. Bob Fenner>
thanks form me and my mini-reef
Ben

Night Life...
Mr. Fenner,
I know you are inundated with queries, but...
I read on your site about an individual who was shocked at the amount of life found in her tank with the lights off. I had tried this in the past, with little success. The tank was new and there was some ambient light coming from an adjacent room.
<Ahh...>
This morning, I went stalking my tank with a small pen-light. WOW! The night time activities far outweigh the day.
<Not surprisingly, eh? Much less likelihood of being eaten by organisms in the dark of the night>
I found things (rather large) that I am quite sure that I neither knowingly put in there, nor have seen in the past. I found a 1.5 inch "hairy" crab.
Will identify him later today.
I did try to research another occupant, but am up against the wall. It is an oval shaped, 1.5 inch solid purple (plum), flat organism. It appears to have a head end and the edges "undulate", however, this is not the means of locomotion. It slides along like a snail. On it's back is a closed, slit-like orifice similar to the mouth of an anemone. In fact, at first I thought it was an anemone, however, after prolonged exposure to the light, it beat feet into a hole.
Any ideas? I looked through all of the photos I could find in your material.
I am leaning toward a flatworm of some type, but perhaps a Nudibranch. If you have any suggestions, I will follow up appropriately.
<These would be/are my general guesses as well... the Nudibranch group first, then perhaps a Platyhelminth...>
Any dangers? I would not assume so as it must have been in there for some time.
<Not much... if the tank is large, well-filtered/aerated/circulated enough... should be fine to leave all as is. Bob Fenner>
Thanks again,
-ed

Nudibranch ID Hi guys, I was wondering if you could identify this slug as potentially harmful.   <it is, as evidenced by the Tassled cerata dorsally that are extensions of the digestive track in gross terms and contain the stinging cells of Cnidarian tissue that it has consumed (eats coral, anemones)> He rode in on what I believe to be a pipe organ coral (see attached).  I found him in the bag and figured he was herbivorous <ahhh...no> but he STAYS on the pipe organ.   <ahhh... ya> I've noticed on the polyps of the pipe organ some "branches are missing now but I've never actually seen the slug near the tips. <night time is the right time> I've actually had the slug living in a bucket of change water (water I removed from the tank) since he's under suspicion.  Any ideas?   <yep... put the creature in a jar of formalin and take it to club meetings to warn other aquarists. But seriously... a shame that this creature will not survive in captivity for you. It has a very specific diet that you cannot want or afford to meet. Please do take some better and clear pictures of this creature in a another vessel (dorsally in a bright white cup perhaps). And do share the photos... we'd love to have them! Highest resolution possible for our website and possible book/magazine print with your permission.> Thanks in advance. Arthur <ciao, bud... Anthony>

Nudibranch Identification Question
Three Nudibranch showed up in my tank via a piece of coral and I wondered if you might know their name/eating habits? They are bright orange all over (no other colors present). They are covered with tentacle-like polyps from tip to tip. None are longer than 3 inches.
There is not really anything else particularly distinguishing about them, other than the above features.
<I am going to guess Nudibranchia eatyourcorali :) Sorry, but I really have no idea. Do please see here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nudibran.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nudispt2.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nudispt3.htm
http://www.seaslugforum.net/
and follow on through the other linked files for additional pictures. My best guess is that these are possibly predatory for that particular coral. Nudibranchs in general of very specific in what they eat. It stands to reason they hitchhiked into your tank on the back of their food source.>
Thanks in advance, George
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>

Re: Nudibranch Identification Question
Steven,
Thanks for your quick reply and information sources. Through your help (the links) I identified the little buggers! They are Family Tergipedidae, Phestilla melanobrachia.
<They did not happen to hitchhike in with a Sun Coral/Orange Cup Coral/Tubastrea?>
Thanks, I would not have identified them without your help. George
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>

Re: Nudibranch Identification Question
They did hitchhike in with the Orange Sun Coral. I am starting up a new 7 gallon saltwater set-up and the fish store gave me some "bits" from their tanks to help me get started. One of the larger bits was an Orange Sun Coral that was ~75% dead, only two polyps were left. I was happy to have the free coral, so I did not complain. What surprised me is that when last night the two "polyps" got up and cruised around the live rock.
<They were probably looking for more Tubastrea.>
After a closer inspection, it looks like I have 3 Nudibranchs (1 large, 2 small) and good sized bunch of eggs on the coral that they came in on. I would really like to keep these guys alive, but I have to do the cost benefit analysis of buying Sun coral to keep them feed. this could get expensive.
<Yes, but it would be interesting though. I know Tropicorium was propagating Tubastrea and if my memory is correct, a gentleman by the name of Yaiullo had them spawn in captivity. I know he wrote an article about it. I would search for Tubastrea and Yaiullo and determine if you can/desire to set up a second tank for raising food. -Steven Pro>

Re: Nudibranch Identification Question
Thanks. That's a great idea. People are going to think that I am nuts, raising coral to feed Nudibranch!
<Tell them you are on the cutting edge. -Steven Pro>

Re: Nudibranch Identification Question
I searched for Yaiullo, and he did publish an article on spawning Tubastrea in a 1994 edition of Aquarium Frontiers. The AF archive does not go back that far.
<I think AF was still an actual paper magazine at that point. I looked around for an online version myself but no luck.>
I tried to find an e-mail address for Joe Yaiullo, to no avail. Do you by chance know his e-mail, where he might be working, or organizations he might be associated with?
<I know he is working in New York at a Public Aquarium. Perhaps someone that reads the dailies on www.WetWebMedia.com will read this and find/know of a link to his article. -Steven Pro>

Weird little critter....
Hey guys.
I am just starting a low light 55 gallon reef (well, 3 months so far). The tank was Fish-Only before for perhaps 6 months. 15" in-tank counter current protein skimmer, 90 watts of N.O. lights, Coral-life and Ocean-life bulbs. Got maybe 20 lbs of cured Fiji rock so far, and some coral skeletons. Crushed coral substrate.
Livestock; a few Sabella feather dusters, 6 Astrea, Mushroom, Button and Colt corals.
Anyway, I bought a piece of rock with what I thought was some kind of anemone, bluish-black with a white stripe in the center. I placed the organism right under the light, and to my surprise, by the next morning it had crawled away. Haven't seen it for like 2 weeks until today when I was moving rocks around. Got a real good look at it too. It has a very dark blue center perhaps an inch long and a frilly translucent mantle, it would be a great display critter if it came out in daylight. The white stripe is some kind of bone or shell, which the mantle has enclosed from underneath. Two short feelers/tentacles/pseudopods extend from the front. It looks similar to a type of snail called an Opistobranch (please excuse the spelling) or something like that.
<indeed... does sound like a shell less nail/Nudibranch>
Is it going to be any danger to my other sessile inverts?
<tough to say... more likely it will starve to death as most are so specific if their diet. There is some home that yours eats flatworms which are possible to culture in display aquariums. Do browse through some specific references on Nudis to get a species ID with hope that it is recognized in the hobby for its needs. There are many dedicated websites if you care to de a keyword search.>
Well thanks for your time. Simon : )
<best regards, Anthony>

Creature ID - 2/14/03
Mr. Fenner,
<Anthony Calfo in your service>
When my lights came on I found this orange and green slug-like creature with about 12 stringy tentacles.  It looks like a hydra but I assumed they were microscopic.  It crawled into the rock except for it's tentacles, which it left out, probing the rock.  I believe it exudes some sort of white powder as you can see on the rock in the pic I've included.  I looked through your articles and on the web and haven't really found much about this.  My main question is if this is good or bad to have wondering around.  I don't have a macro lens, so that is the best I can do for a visual.
Thanks for your time Donovon Bodine
<The effort to take the image is truly appreciated. Alas... it came through very blurry. Still... it has a reminiscent form on a Dentronotid sea slug. Without any more info (number of tentacles to that are "head-oriented/AKA cephalic, are there sparse tassels on the back, in pairs?, etc)... I'm wondering if you don't have something like: Bornella calcarata  Please use that name in our search engine for WWM to find a picture on the site to compare to in gross form. At least to tell us if it is even a true sea slug. If it is a Dentronotid species specifically... then it eats coral or like cnidarians (perhaps even jellyfish... yikes!). That would be bad. Kindly, Anthony>

Snail?  Nudibranch?
>Hi, WWM Guys and Girl, I think that it is a Nudibranch.  Someone at the LFS suggested possibly a limpet, but I don't think so. Don't those all have shells?
>>Girl Marina again.  ;)  To the best of my knowledge this is correct.  
>I'm going to try to send the pics again in a zip file, perhaps they'll come through that way.  
>>Do check the extension of the file type, this may have been the initial problem, though I'm hardly an expert.  
>I'm inclined to think that it is not predatory by the lack of cerata on it's back, is this a "fairly" safe assumption??  
>>This I cannot confirm or deny.  
>I appreciate all the hard work you guys do saving our critters from our lack of experience.
>>Heh, we try.  Do hope we've been of help to you and everyone else who reads this stuff.  Marina

Nudibranch ID? 8/2/04
Here is a better pic of the little pests. Is there any other info you can give? Any help is appreciated, thanks
<again... Ids from pictures are unreliable if even possible. I see that you used/borrowed a pic from John Susbilla. 
I know this chap... he's a Bay Area club member (SeaBAY perhaps). Do e-mail John for an ID of this/his snails. 
He's a great guy. Anthony>