Anyone recognize this nudibranch
- Thread starter Ghost25
- Start date
slay
New member
http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12154
Reminds me of Berghia verrucicornis, the nudibranch sold in the hobby, just more colorful. The link has a photo that's reasonably similar to yours and says it resembles a Berghi Columbina (a species from waters around Spain/the Canary Islands), but the author speculates that the Caribbean nudibranch B. rissodominguez is the same species (a Caribbean hitchhiker is much more plausible than a Spanish one seeing how much aquacultered live rock comes from Carribean/Gulf/Floridian waters.
I'm not an expert by any means, but the author (who seems to be an expert, seemingly with the Australian Museum?) says the most characteristic visual feature is a thin orange band at the base of the cerata, which I can't make out due to your picture being rather blue. The article speculates they perhaps feed on Aiptasia like B. verrucicornis - but if in doubt, toss it out is the safe way to play things.
Reminds me of Berghia verrucicornis, the nudibranch sold in the hobby, just more colorful. The link has a photo that's reasonably similar to yours and says it resembles a Berghi Columbina (a species from waters around Spain/the Canary Islands), but the author speculates that the Caribbean nudibranch B. rissodominguez is the same species (a Caribbean hitchhiker is much more plausible than a Spanish one seeing how much aquacultered live rock comes from Carribean/Gulf/Floridian waters.
I'm not an expert by any means, but the author (who seems to be an expert, seemingly with the Australian Museum?) says the most characteristic visual feature is a thin orange band at the base of the cerata, which I can't make out due to your picture being rather blue. The article speculates they perhaps feed on Aiptasia like B. verrucicornis - but if in doubt, toss it out is the safe way to play things.
It's likely an aeolid nudibranch which are coral eaters.
mcgyvr
New member
A berghia is also an aeolid and it does not eat corals.. aiptasia only for them..
That one certainly looks like a berghia
A picture that wasn't taken through a Windex bottle may help though.. :hmm2:
Where there's one there's many. I just pulled another five of these guys all in my largest zoa patch, their cerata match the tentacles of my blow pop zoas. So it seems they are zoa eaters, I'm hoping they are conspicuous enough that I can remove them manually because it would be quite difficult to dip the main zoa rock.
mcgyvr
New member
Check along the polyp stalks for eggs. They're spiral shaped and can be scraped off with the side of a toothpick.
