Solid Black Nudibranch
April 11, 2001
From: Nathan Paden
Last night I discovered a black nudibranch in my reef tank. It very closely resembles the body type of the Risbecia tryoni nudibranch. It's rhinophores are tipped in white but the remainder of the nudibranch is solid black. I reviewed your site extensively looking for possibliities and the Dendrodoris nigra and Dendrodoris fumata do not appear to be viable candidates. Their body shape is not right and my nudibranch does not have a flowing mantle at all.
My nudibranch must be finding something to eat as the last live rock addition to my tank was some Vanasi rock several months ago. Other additions could be Fiji rock over a year ago. I do have several species of sponges that could possibly be a food source for the nudibranch. The size of the nudibranch was approx. 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. At first I thought it was a large suction cup that had somehow been melted into a funny shape or something! :-)
I tried to get a picture of it, however it was in the back corner of the tank and I couldn't get my camera to focus on it. I will continue to try to get a photo of it.
I would appreciate any thoughts on this. I am fairly confident in the body shape similarity with the Risbecia tryoni especially the shape of the head and the lack of a flowing mantle as shown in the Dendrodoris sp.
Thanks,
Nathan
npaden@llano.net
Paden, N., 2001 (Apr 11) Solid Black Nudibranch . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4134Dear Nathan,
Tha white-tipped rhinophores sound like Dendrodoris nigra but you don't mention anything about gills which makes me wonder if you have a nudibranch at all. If you have, it is extremely lucky, having arrived in your aquarium either with some live rock that had the right sponge food living on it, or it has found the right sponge already living in your aquarium.
The other possibility is that you have a 'slug-like' snail such as Scutus which travels well on 'live rock', is black, and feeds on algae. One easy way to tell is to gently poke its back and see if it has a white shell which is usually hidden underneath black skin flaps. Have a look at the Scutus page for some photos. The other thing ito look for are the position of the 'rhinophores'? Are they under the mantle skirt or do they emerge from pockets on the back?
Basically its hard to be sure what you have without an illustration. If it won't cooperate for a photo, could you manage a rough drawing or two which you could scan and send me?
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Re: Dendrodoris nigra - hitchhiking again
From: Kevin A Mitchell, March 19, 2010 -
Re: Dendrodoris nigra from New Zealand
From: Bill Rudman, October 27, 2009 -
Dendrodoris nigra? from New Zealand
From: Graham Bould, October 27, 2009 -
Re: Big Black Slug in my aquarium
From: Shelly Craigie, December 4, 2007 -
Re: Orange form of Dendrodoris nigra from Reunion
From: Hugues Flodrops, December 4, 2007 -
Big Black Slug in my aquarium
From: Shelly Craigie, December 3, 2007 -
Dendrodoris nigra from the Seychelles Ids
From: David Barnes, August 25, 2007 -
Dendrodoris nigra colour variation from Reunion Island ?
From: Philibert Bidgrain, May 15, 2007 -
Dendrodoris nigra & eggs from Lord Howe Is.
From: Ian Hutton, February 25, 2004 -
Dendrodoris nigra (?) from Mayotte
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, December 3, 2003 -
Dendrodoris nigra - egg ribbon
From: Rachel Przeslawski, March 20, 2003 -
Unknown black sea slug in aquarium
From: Nate C., February 16, 2003 -
Dendrodoris nigra - hitchhiking again
From: Jeff Lord, February 4, 2003 -
Dendrodoris nigra from Lord Howe Island
From: W.B. Rudman, January 27, 2003 -
Solid black nudibranch in aquarium
From: Jennie, December 18, 2002 -
Black Slug? in aquarium
From: Durwin Gin, December 7, 2002 -
Red form of Dendrodoris nigra
From: Valda Fraser, June 10, 2002 -
Dendrodoris nigra from Christmas Island
From: W.B. Rudman, May 16, 2002 -
Dendrodoris nigra from Philippines
From: Jeff Rosenfeld , June 14, 2001 -
Re: Solid Black Nudibranch
From: Nathan Paden , April 13, 2001 -
Dendrodoris nigra from Saudi Arabia
From: Gordon T. Smith, February 6, 2001 -
Dendrodoris nigra feeding
From: Chris Benson, January 9, 2001 -
Dendrodoris nigra feeding
From: J. Kennedy, January 9, 2001 -
Thanks For Help
From: Chris Stephens, December 29, 2000 -
Help to id slug
From: Chris Stephens, December 28, 2000 -
Another Samoan nudibranch
From: Don Barclay, August 29, 2000 -
Dendrodoris nigra from Sulawesi
From: Lindsay Warren, July 25, 2000 -
Dendrodoris nigra from South Africa
From: Valda Fraser, July 8, 2000 -
Black nudibranch
From: Eric Jensen, April 10, 2000 -
Dendrodoris nigra
From: katabyss, January 28, 2000 -
Pages on Dendrodoris nigra & D. fumata
From: Bill Rudman., August 19, 1999