Slug Id please.

[sps_addict]

Hi,

I found these in my tank when the lights went out. Could I get an Id for these slugs please? Also are they good or bad?

Thanks,
Steve

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/71594slug_side.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/71594slug_top.jpg

[rshimek]

Hi Steve,

They appear to be dorid nudibranchs. The images are somewhat out of focus, so I can't see some of the identifying features, so there is a bit doubt to that identification, however.

Unlike most inverts, color and color pattern are rather important for the identification of these animals, and your images are too "off color" for my programs to adjust for, so I can't give you a more precise identifications than "dorid nudibranch."

If they are dorids, such animals are generally predators on live sponges, and each type of dorid will eat a specific type of sponge.

[sps_addict]

Sorry Dr Ron,

I was able to take a better picture of them this morning.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/71594slug_front.jpg

Thanks.
Steve

[romunov]

Looks like Slurms McKenzie. :bigeyes:

[rshimek]

Hi Steve,

Much better image!!! <b><font class="nf" color="deeppink">MANY THANKS!!!</b></font>

The improved image quality allows me to revise my tentative identification to something more certain. It is not a dorid nudibranch. It is instead an arminid nudibranch in the genus Dermatobranchus, probably it is a specimen of Dermatobranchus albus (ttp://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=dermalbu). Animals in this genus have been reported to eat pipe organ coral, clove polyps and other soft corals, but there is not much definitive data on this particular species.

[sps_addict]

Thanks Dr Ron,

So these are the reasons I lost one of my colonies of green clove polyps. They were found area in the tank where I placed my cloves. I'll have to see if they laid any eggs.

Out they stay.

Thanks.
Steve

[Caesar777]

I found a slug similar to this one, and my camera isn't nearly good enough to get a pic. (Actaully, my eyes aren't good enough to see much detail, either). But what really stood out to me was its tough body--it was tougher even than a leather coral, not squishy like most nudi's. Does that sound like something else? It had those two black appendages--rhinopores?--and a plain, smooth body, similar coloration and pattern.

[greenbean36191]

It's hard to identify slugs with a picture (or even a live specimen for that matter), much less without one. There are a lot of them, many of which are very similar. Things like rhinophore shape, gill shape and placement, body shape, color, body texture, and presence of rhinophore or gill sheaths are all important for IDs and without a picture it's hard to describe them in enough detail. Unfortunately, the firmness isn't really a good characteristic for IDs because it generally isn't listed in references.

If it is a nudibranch (it could be a different type of slug) they are all predatory, so they either aren't reef safe or will starve unless you can identify their food and provide them with a steady supply. Unless you can get a picture of it or it's green (which could mean that it's a herbivorous slug rather than a nudibranch) it would probably be best to take it out of the tank.

[Caesar777]

It's already out, and probably dead by now. (Standard procedure on all uknown critters.) I had left it in a bowl because a) wanted to ID it, and b) I never have the heart to kill something, so I "let it die", i.e. what I'd call "passive killing". It's sad, but what can I do, you know? Anyway, I knew it was a carnivorous nudibranch, just curious if anyone thought that its tough texture might be some kind of unique feature. I was thinking flatworm originally, but they don't have any protrusions, as far as I know, and this creature has two [rhinopores? too small for my eyeballs].

[romunov]

It's sad, but what can I do, you know?
You can have "mercy" and kill it quick.

[sps_addict]

How quick do these things multiply. I have removed over 60 of these boogers and my tank looks to be clean of them, two days later I see a few more....pull those out...repeat, it's like non stop. Is there anything I can do to get rid of these? Any predators?

They have wiped out my colony of anthelias and clove polyps.

Thanks,
Steve

[rshimek]

Hi,

They don't multiply in a tank at all. However, they are gregarious, and when you add one (inadvertently, to be sure) you often add a lot. When I added a small "clove polyp" colony to my system a couple of years ago (the colony was the size of a dime), I added over 20 of them.

So... just keep looking.

You might try getting some clove polyps and using them as bait....