#13 Lemon Nudibranch

#13 Lemon Nudibranch 

(Dorididae)

Common Name: Nudibranch/Sea Slug

Description

- Orange/yellow with red splotches

- Sluglike

- About 10cm in diameter

- Oval shaped, two hornlike projections on their head with gills on their backs

- The mantle is covered with small bumps known as tubercles

Taxonomy

- Kingdom: Animalia

- Phylum: Mullusca

- Class: Gastropoda

- Family: Dorididae 

Ecology

- Lemon nudibranchs feed on sponges and other sessile animals or even dead organic matter. 

- Nudibranchs are hermaphroditic, and thus have both reproductive organs, however they cannot fertilize themselves.

- They are some of the most colorful creatures on the earth. They use camouflage to blend into their surroundings or aposematic coloration to warn potential predators that they are distasteful or poisonous.

- Nudibranchs can store nematocysts from other animals in their own dorsal body wall and use them for their own defense. As well as other chemical defenses they can use for protection.