Hitchhiker Nudi... any ideas?

sjimmyh

sjimmyh

Member
Just found this nudi in my 75 gal reef. The tank is only a month and a half so I am assuming it came in on my LR.
Any ideas, it appears to be roaming the rocks like a detrivore/herbavore (snail). This picture is under actinics.

and this is under normal lighting...

Picture quality is suffering, but the thing is like 1 cm in length... Had to zoom it in for you to see it.
 
bronco300

bronco300

Active Member
can you give a descript about it? hard for me to tell by the photos, does it have little bananas hangin from its body? if so then its a zoo eating nudibranch, which is not a good thing.
here is a link to the ones i found
NUDI branch
 
sjimmyh

sjimmyh

Member
sure, it was quite small as your description was, but he didnt look like the ones in your link.
It did have the characteristic gill frills on its body, but they were like spikes going down the sides of the body rather than bannana bunches.
It was dark red head, with a lighter redish pink body. The gills were florescent pink as can be seen by the actinic lighting picture.
I watched it for some time just roaming around the rock randomly. It didn't seem to stop in any one place long nor did I notice it investigating any of my livestock.
I will definately be keeping an eye out for it around any of my corals or zoas, but its behavior was extremely snail like. It just motored around seeming to sample algae and detritis as it passed it.
 
sprang

sprang

Member
better to be safe than sorry....pull it, and fuge it! I think they are a pest I.M.O. not worth the risk.
 
sjimmyh

sjimmyh

Member
Went to the sea slug forum (google it) and met a Dr. of taxonimy for nudibranchs. We have the family locked down. He is researching it further for me, but from reading, some of the species within the family eat Aptasia. That would explain where it came from since aptasia is pretty hard to rid completely in the aquarium systems of LFS's. Most likely hitched a ride on one of the corals I bought rather than from the LR.
I got some better pictures. Today, I found it again, quite easily and removed it and took some better close ups. I emailed these to him and he should help me out by tomorrow (little delay time, since he works at the Northern-Territory museum of Australia).

and yes, its fuged.
 
sjimmyh

sjimmyh

Member
Seems my nudibranch expert associate from Australia was able to classify this guy down to family Facelinidae. A hyrdiod and anemone eating family of species.
Lucky for me, I don't keep any anemones. He must have hitched a ride on one of the coral rocks I bought from a LFS. He was most likely living off aptasia in the tanks there.
Anyway, he is fuged and will most likely starve to death since I haven't anything he can really munch on. Neat looking little guy... loved how he would glow under actinics.
 
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