Help me ID this please. Good or bad?

[iamthereefguy]

Sorry for the bad shot. He keeps moving around so it's hard to get a good shot at him. He's very pretty but I'm wondering if he's good for a reef tank. I'm not sure how long he's been in my tank. I just found him today in my frag tank while I was fragging some corals. He's about 6"-9" long and very pretty when fully stretch out. I don't have any problem in my tank at the moment and I like to keep it that way. So is this guy reef safe? What's the common name for this nudi? Thanks for the help.

 

[pagojoe]

Hey Reefguy,

Leslie should be able to give you a more confident and analytical ID, but I'll get you started. It's an Elysia species, but that's not at all what I thought it was going to be as the pics were loading. It should be a bryopsis/algae eater and should be reef safe. That's mighty big for an Elysia species, but there are several that grow that large. It looks like one of the color variations of Elysia rufescens (not the brightly colored form) but it also looks like a giant Elysia ornata, minus the black band at the edges of the parapodia. The big ones may be a different species, Elysia grandifolia.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=elysrufe
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=elysorna
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=elysgran

I'm out of town on slow dial-up, so if Leslie doesn't pop in with an ID, you might want to surf through the Elysia species on the Sea Slug Forum and check for a better match. Just scroll down to where the Elysiidae start.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/specieslist.cfm

Cheers,



Don

 

[iamthereefguy]

Don, thank you so much.

 

[Ralph ATL]

this is leslie's profile if ya want it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=73802

 

[iamthereefguy]

Thanks Ralph

 

[Elysia]

ReefGuy,

Should you decide that you do not want to keep your seaslug, I would be more than happy to pay to have it shipped here. I'm a big fan of the genus. Your slug is beautiful. Just so you know, these animals need live algae -- they can't survive on nori or algae waffers. They are able to use the living chloroplasts of the algae that they feed on. Please keep us updated on this slug. Any idea how the slug came into your tank?

Oh, and watch pump and filter intakes, and any animal that may take a nip at the slug. Most can not survive tears to their body.

 

[LeslieH]

Pagojoe's is doing just fine, you don't need me or Greenbean butting in.......