Black nudibranch?

[lzrlvr]

Hi my black nudibranch? Likes sponges but may be able to survive on algae or biofilm. I see it about quite often and have never seen it on my corals here is a photo.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Cool hitchhiker! It is a Dendrodoeis nigra (black Nudibranch). Score for biodiversity, Unless you like to keep sponge.

 

[KJ]

Scutus sp. Elephant Slug

 

[reef lover]

Yup scutus...hopefully he stays off your sps...mine did until he was adult sized.

 

[skilos1]

Definitely scutus, i've had one in mine before and just like the poster above, went after my sps when it got to adult size so i had to suck him out of the 300.

 

[lzrlvr]

Hi like my Honduran friend used to say will see what happen but if I see things change I will have to do something. Thanks for all the help

 

[lzrlvr]

Do the scutus eat sponges and sps corals

 

[cristata.reef]

Do the scutus eat sponges and sps corals

Scutus is an algae eater primarily and may eat detritus to an extent

 

[lzrlvr]

thank you I like a reply like that but their may be others that will probably disagree.

 

[cristata.reef]

I assume you attached the picture of the coral to imply that the Scutus may have taken a liking to it. In any case I doubt the Scutus was the culprit. I talked to one of the invertebrate zoologists at the lab I'm at before I commented and he said that they are exclusively herbivorous, feeding mainly on chlorophytes but will occasionally eat rhodophytes as well.

 

[reef lover]

I have seen them eat sps...

 

[cristata.reef]

I have seen them eat sps...

Huh just did some digging around and apparently a lot of other people experience this as well. I find this really interesting since general feeding behavior for most gastropods is obligate and the range of food sources doesn’t differ much at all from each other. In any case I guess if you want to remove it, then by all means remove it

 

[zyer1090]

In my experience elephant slugs have never touched or harmed any of my corals.

 

[lzrlvr]

No it never bothered the pavona in the photo.

 

[lzrlvr]

I like it and I will let it live i just wanted to find out what it was.

 

[reef lover]

i like them too mine just lives in the sump now.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I've been trying to I'd mine for awhile now thanks for the post. I have 4 in a 75g full of sps they only come out at night they better leave my corals alone