CAn anyone ID this Nudibranch?

[ssavader]

Can anyone ID this Nudi?

[LeslieH]

It helps to have a shot showing the back of the slug rather than the underside and accurate color is vital. It would be better if you took it out & photographed it in a dish of water.

That said, it appears to be an aeolid or something related which means it probably feeds on some kind of cnidarian.

[yellowslayer13]

i belive i have seen this nudi on here, if you have sun coral or dendros that is what they eat

[abrahamcho]

That is one cool looking nudi.

[spoon671]

Berghia. They ONLY eat Aiptasia.

[LeslieH]

The true Berghia verrucicornis isn't the Aiptasia eater. The animal beloved by people overrun with Aiptasia is actually Aeolidella stephanieae. It's body is translucent with white patches down the back and on the ends of the tentacles & rhinophores, the cerata (the appendages on the back) are white tipped and either translucent or brown depending on whether they've fed recently, and there's a long slender filament for a tail.

True Berghia verrucicornis are white with white & orange patches on the back, white oral tentacles, white tipped orange rhinophores, and white cerata with orange tips (they may be brown if the animal's fed recently); there's often 2 orange patches on the sides of the head.

[spoon671]

Oh gosh. Go to your LFS and try asking for "Aeolidiella".

It is what it is, I guess. Regardless of actual origin, color or species I am willing to bet that it's a good guy.

[Reefmack]

From what I've read about Berghia (or Aeolidella stephanieae), they only live as long as they have aiptasia to eat. Then they starve and die. As Leslie said, most of these little guys are pests on corals that you want to have, including zoas, and I think some or all are specific to different coral types. If it was in my tank I'd remove it immediately and start checkin my zoas and acropora for signs of more, and for signs of any eggs. My bet is on it being a bad guy.

[spoon671]

Originally posted by Reefmack
From what I've read about Berghia (or Aeolidella stephanieae), they only live as long as they have aiptasia to eat. Then they starve and die. As Leslie said, most of these little guys are pests on corals that you want to have, including zoas, and I think some or all are specific to different coral types. If it was in my tank I'd remove it immediately and start checkin my zoas and acropora for signs of more, and for signs of any eggs. My bet is on it being a bad guy.

Leslie never said they were pests, btw. Where did you learn what you think you know about Berghia? I am just curious. Will they mistake Zoas for anemonies?

[Reefmack]

Originally posted by LeslieH
.......That said, it appears to be an aeolid or something related which means it probably feeds on some kind of cnidarian.

spoon671 - actually, Leslie did say that - see the quote above. Cnidaria is the biological classification Phylum Cnidiaria - Hydras, Jellyfish & Corals. Feeding on cnidarians means that they eat the corals and anemones that we keep in our tanks - that to me certainly qualifies as a pest in my tank! And from what I've read different species can be very specific as to what type of coral they feed on - some feed on Xenia (and the skin folds on their back can even mimic a tiny clump of Xenia; others feed on zoas, etc. There are numerous posts on RC on folks trying to rid their zoa colonies of zoa eating nudibranchs and their eggs - before the colonies are killed off.

On the Berghia, here's the site that raises them for aiptasia control:

http://www.berghia.net/

Just do a Google search on "berghia aiptasia" and you'll get a lot of sites with information. Pretty interesting.

Here's a page on the nudibranch that eats Xenia - and looks very much like the coral that it eats:

http://slugsite.us/bow/nudwk445.htm

I hope that helps.

[pagojoe]

No offense, spoon, but what Leslie was trying to tell you is A) it's not a Berghia, B) from that pic, it's impossible to positively ID it, and C) it's much more likely to be feeding on something in the tank other than Aiptasia, with a decent chance it's feeding on something that ssavader doesn't want eaten. (Leslie is very polite )

Cheers,



Don

[Reefmack]

spoon - I wasn't trying to criticize either - just trying to make things clearer, which pagojoe did a much better job of than i did!

[spoon671]

Originally posted by Reefmack
Feeding on cnidarians means that they eat the corals and anemones that we keep in our tanks - that to me certainly qualifies as a pest in my tank!

I can't even say "cnidarians"... therefore I am disinclined to argue with you. Thanks for the info, and thanks for clearing it all up. I thought I knew what a "Berghia Nudi" was, but after doing a bit of research, I find that it's a complicated topic in and of itself.

I gave up my reef before moving to my current location, and after the tank move I turned a few rocks over and happened to find some aptaisia. So I am now interested in these nudibranchs. Looks like they would work pleasantly in my particular sitchiation due to my tank being a fish only setup at the moment.

[finsurgeon]

I gotta say I had a group of nudi's that looked just like that one that I first thought to be Berghias, that turned out to be munching the fronds off my zoas as fast as they could. I picked them out 1 at a time for a couple weeks until they were gone, but it sure could've been worse.

[Ebmorri]

Just alink the ones that Fin is talking about.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/dc_nudibranch.html

And here ar the others
http://www.saltyunderground.com/

you make the call.

[LeslieH]

FYI: the nudis on Berghia.net and saltyunderground.com are all Aeolidella stephanieae. They are not Berghia

[mscarpena]

NUDI's usually only eat one thing. SOme are good and some are bad. IF you can not positively identify what it is eating or the species keep an eye on it to be sure it is not eating your corals. There are tons of differnt types of nudi's and I'm sure that not everyone know what they all eat. Keep and eye on it or just get rid of it because it will probably only live for a few months to 1 yrs anyway.

[spoon671]

While we're on the subject, do ya'll know of any nudi's that eat Kenya Tree coral?

[chrisstie]

I wish. I have seen some eating toadstools though but they hitchiked in on their food source.

I can't say for sure but what I can say is the one in the pic looks like a zoo eating nudi.

Do you have colonies of zoos in your tank that have been closed up lately? seems like a simple question to hopefully at least rule that one out.