Hexabranchus behaviour

December 4, 2006
From: Sandrine Flodrops

Dear Bill,
What a strange place for sleeping and perhaps eating. I found this Hexabranchus sanguineus at the setting sun. We know that H. sanguineus is potentially toxic because it eats antifeedant chemicals found in Halichondria sponge.

Locality: Etang-Salé Lagoon, 50 cm, Reunion Island, Indian Ocean, 27 November 2006, Setting sun. Length: 130 mm. Photographer: Sandrine Flodrops.

Here is what I think is a kind of Millepora. Is it possible that H. sanguineus eats Millepora and also Ophiocoma?
Thanks for your comments.
Best regards.
Sandrine.

hugues.flodrops@wanadoo.fr

Flodrops, S., 2006 (Dec 4) Hexabranchus behaviour. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18683

Dear Sandrine,
I know of no evidence that it feeds on either the anthozoan coral, Millepora, or brittlestars like Ophiocoma. Certainly Ophiocoma lives entangled in branching corals and coral rubble and is usually only seen in numbers like this when it crawls up to the water surface as the tide turns, to collect the dried organic particles and 'scum'  it eats from the water surface. Hexabranchus is often found in coral rubble and areas of small branching coral colonies. Like many dorids, it is able to nestle into very small and inconvenient cracks and crevices when it is not actively crawling or feeding.

I suspect there is nothing significant about finding these three animals together.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Dec 4). Comment on Hexabranchus behaviour by Sandrine Flodrops. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18683

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Hexabranchus sanguineus

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