Can you identify a species & it's diet

April 13, 2001
From: Brad Anderson

The nudibranch I am trying to identify is a deep dark blue, almost black in color, with narrow bright yellow meandering lines running lengthwise on it's body, and a large gill tuft on the rear top of its body with the same markings. Length about 3" or 70mm, about 1/2" or 1.5 cm in diameter.

I've attached a jpg, a picture can also be seen on on page 161, the upper right hand side of the page in The Manual of Marine Invertebrates by Martyn Haywood and Sue Wells, Copyright 1989 Salamander Books Ltd, Published by Tetra Press, Blacksburg,VA 24060, ISBN# 1-56465-139-8.

In that book it is identified as an 'Indian Ocean Glossodoris sp.', with no other details. Upon searching this Forum index I cannot find a similar Glossodoris shown. I don't know how reliable this identification is from this book.

I am a reef aquarium keeper/amateur biologist and have found one of these displayed in one of the local aquarium stores. I am interested in identifying it and it's diet to help maintain it's longevity and possibly try to breed it in captivity. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Brad

brada1_mn_com@hotmail.com

Anderson, B., 2001 (Apr 13) Can you identify a species & it's diet. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4164

Dear Brad,
You can't always believe everything you read in books. Your photo is of a chromodorid called Hypselodoris picta a species which has a wide distribution on both sides of the tropical Atlantic. This photo seems to be of the Caribbean color form which used to be called Hypselodoris endenticula. Where did you take your photo?

If you look at the messages below yours on this page you will find a number of recent messages discussing what the Caribbean colour form feeds on. At present we are waiting to see if someone can send us a photo of the sponge it feeds on. basically it will be a specialised sponge feeder and it would be difficult to keep the sponge alive in your aquarium even if you discovered which species it was and could find some.

Sorry I can't be more positive about keeping nudibranchs in captivity but they are much more difficult than most fish.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Apr 13). Comment on Can you identify a species & it's diet by Brad Anderson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4164

Factsheet

Hypselodoris picta

Related messages

  1. Re: Florida nudibranch
    From: Terri Johnson, June 5, 2009
  2. Re: Florida nudibranch
    From: Terri Johnson, June 4, 2009
  3. Feeding Hypselodoris picta in an aquarium
    From: Steven Soskin, August 26, 2008
  4. Hypselodoris picta from Antibes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, August 22, 2008
  5. Hypselodoris picta from Greece
    From: Hans van Rijn, February 29, 2008
  6. Seaslug from Greece
    From: Chris Heerema, October 9, 2007
  7. Hyspelodoris picta from Lanzarote, Canary Islands
    From: Mascha van Delft, August 18, 2007
  8. Mating Hypselodoris picta from Canary Ids
    From: Brian Mayes, August 4, 2007
  9. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Natasja Vandeperre, August 4, 2007
  10. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Natasja Vandeperre, July 16, 2007
  11. Re: Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, June 28, 2007
  12. Re: Hypselodoris picta with abnormality
    From: Dominique Horst, June 27, 2007
  13. Hypselodoris picta with abnormality
    From: Dominique Horst, September 2, 2006
  14. Hypselodoris picta from North Carolina
    From: Vlad Pambucol, August 19, 2006
  15. Hypselodoris picta from the Canary Islands [2].
    From: Christian Kowalewski, August 19, 2006
  16. Hypselodoris picta from Canary Islands
    From: Christian Kowalewski, August 19, 2006
  17. Hypselodoris picta from near Cannes, France
    From: Dominique Horst, June 9, 2006
  18. Hypselodoris picta from Italy
    From: David Shepherd, October 25, 2005
  19. Juvenile Hypselodoris picta from Sorrento. Italy
    From: Fabio Russo, September 16, 2005
  20. Hypselodoris picta from Turkey
    From: Ata Bilgili, July 4, 2005
  21. Re: Hypselodoris picta from Florida
    From: Karen C, March 11, 2005
  22. Hypselodoris picta from Florida
    From: Karen, March 9, 2005
  23. Hypselodoris edenticulata pictures [2]
    From: Bill Rudman, February 3, 2005
  24. Hypselodoris edenticulata pictures [1]
    From: Phillip Gillette, February 3, 2005
  25. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Duncan v Vliet , January 22, 2004
  26. Hypselodoris picta from Spain
    From: Juan, November 17, 2003
  27. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Adam Petrusek, October 7, 2003
  28. Hypselodoris picta from Nth Carolina
    From: Sandy Smith, August 26, 2003
  29. Hypselodoris picta from Israel
    From: Ilan Ben Tov, July 25, 2003
  30. Hypselodoris picta
    From: Chris, May 20, 2003
  31. Hypselodoris picta feeding
    From: Linda Ianniello, March 22, 2003
  32. Hypselodoris picta from Croatia
    From: Frank Thijssen, December 20, 2002
  33. Thanks
    From: Joel Penland, December 11, 2002
  34. Hypselodoris picta from South Carolina
    From: Joel Penland, December 5, 2002
  35. Hypselodoris picta? from Spain
    From: Isidro Cuallado, October 22, 2002
  36. Hypselodoris picta from the Mediterranean (1)
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 6, 2002
  37. Hypselodoris picta from the Mediterranean (2)
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, August 6, 2002
  38. Hypselodoris picta from Greece
    From: Fons Sarneel, March 19, 2002
  39. Information on Hypselodoris picta
    From: Joe Helferich, January 31, 2002
  40. Mystery photo of 'Greek Goddess'
    From: Anonymous, December 11, 2001
  41. Hypselodoris picta and sponge
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino , November 7, 2001
  42. Hypselodoris picta from Spain
    From: Luis Sánchez Tocino , November 5, 2001
  43. Sea Goddess Nudibranch
    From: Frank Winston , August 25, 2001
  44. Re: Hypselodoris edenticulata from Florida
    From: Maria, July 18, 2001
  45. Hypselodoris edenticulata from Florida
    From: Anne DuPont, July 14, 2001
  46. Hypselodoris picta from the Adriatic Sea
    From: Buga Berkovic , July 1, 2001
  47. Possible food source for Hypselodoris edenticulata
    From: Mike Bloss, June 8, 2001
  48. Re: Possible food of Hypselodoris edenticulata
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, June 8, 2001
  49. Re: Food of Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, April 4, 2001
  50. Re: Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, April 3, 2001
  51. Food of Hypselodoris picta
    From: Shawna, April 3, 2001
  52. Hypselodoris picta
    From: Mark Bass, March 23, 2001
  53. Nudibranch - Blue with Yellow Spots
    From: Mark Bass, March 22, 2001
  54. 'Greek Goddess' Sea Slug
    From: Robin, February 8, 2001
  55. Blue chromodorid from the Mediterranean
    From: Erwin Koehler, January 26, 2001
  56. Re: Blue chromodorid from Antibes
    From: Angel Valdes, January 26, 2001
  57. Greek goddess sea slug
    From: Holly, July 19, 2000
  58. Hypselodoris picta & Florida slug
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 1, 2000
  59. Florida nudibranch
    From: Robert Schroff, May 26, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages