Nudibranch Domain

Images and Information about Sea Slugs from around the world

This is a site for aficionados of nudibranchs and their sea slug relatives, who want more than pretty pictures. At the launch the site is populated with an image of each species sighted on the Sunshine Coast, southern Queensland, Australia by The Sunshine Coast Sea Slug Survey Team.

As the site develops, information, more images and references about each of the species will be added providing a helpful and valuable resource. The many hundreds of Indo-Pacific species, recorded by The Team when overseas, will also be regularly added significantly broadening the resource.

There are three ways to get your hit of Sea Slug knowledge.

Species Profile features information about specific sea slugs. Navigate, Identify and Learn about species via the lists. Notification of the latest expanded entry will appear below on the Home Page.
NudiNote features specific topics that can be sourced via its Archive. Notification of the latest entry will appear below on the Home Page.
Understanding Nudibranchs is a book on general sea slug biology and behaviour that will be posted in parts, as they are completed.

Home to The Sea Slug Survey of the Sunshine Coast

The Sea Slug Snippet

Babakina indopacifica Gosliner, Gonzalez-Duart & Cervera, 2007

Dorsum with opaque white patches on translucent purple/pink. Bulbous “bushy” rhinophores red with white to lamellae edges and a common stalk. Oral tentacles pink with white banding. Cerata white with a pink subapical ring and translucent tip.

Arkwright Shoals, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Latest NudiNote

NudiNotes are interesting and informative short articles about sea slugs and their behaviour.

THE STING’S THE THING – Sea Slug Predators of Anemones and Hydroids

“The Sting’s the Thing” Sea Slug Predators of Anemones and Hydroids Have you ever inadvertently brushed past a stinging hydroid during a dive and some small part of your skin, being exposed, receives a searing sting? Or perhaps you have been enjoying the surf and a...

PHYLLIDIID SUCTORIAL FEEDING

Phyllidiid Suctorial Feeding We are occasionally fortunate enough to encounter and record a nudibranch feeding, that is, to actually see that they are feeding, because most often the process is hidden from us beneath them. In those instances, with the sponge-feeders,...

SPONGIVORES – The Sponge Eaters

SPONGIVORES - The Sponge Eaters Sponges (Phylum Porifera) are one of simplest and oldest of multicellular animals. They have the least complex body form of the multicellular animals. Only a few specialist predators are known to be exclusively spongivores, that is, to...

SLUGIVORES – SEA SLUGS THAT PREY ON SEA SLUGS

Slugivores - Sea Slugs That Prey On Sea Slugs The great majority of sea slug species are carnivorous, meaning they prey on animal life rather than plant life. It is often not appreciated that sponges, bryozoans and hydroids etc. although primitive life forms, and...

HITCHIN’ A RIDE ON THE SEA SLUG TRAIN

Hitchin' a Ride on the Sea Slug Train It is often said there is no such thing as a free meal, but what about a free ride to collect your meal? One sees sea slugs on many sessile invertebrates either feeding or traversing but only occasionally does one see...

THE ALGAE GRAZERS

The Algae Grazers (Header image above - Petalifera ramosa) It has long been established that the algae are the base upon which the marine food web is built and sustained. Algae are an important food source for numerous marine animals across many different phyla...

THE CORAL EATERS

Many people are surprised to learn that some nudibranch sea slugs are actually corallivorous, that is they feed upon corals. Those that keep corals in aquariums however know only too well the havoc certain nudibranchs can cause particular corals. Corals don’t look to...

GIVING THE FINGER – The siphon of gastropterids

The Gastropteridae are cephalaspideans or head-shield slugs. It would appear that their “main claim to fame”, bright and dramatic colouration of many aside, revolves around the ability and propensity of many to swim by flapping their parapodia. This behaviour has led...

SPECIFICITY IN DIVERSITY – The diet of sea slugs

Across the entire group, the sea slugs have an extremely diverse source of food types, but conversely, each species usually has an extremely specific diet restricted in many cases to one or only few, usually closely related, prey species. A list of the animal types...

Lookalikes to Look out for – No. 2. – Mexichromis pusilla & Verconia varians

Mexichromis pusilla - Verconia varians In No. 2 of this series Mexichromis pusilla (Bergh, 1874) and Verconia varians (Pease,1871) will be discussed. Both species were described back in the 19th century and have gone through a couple of name changes. The original...

The current NudiNote is displayed above. Click to read more or slide to earlier NudiNotes using the arrows which appear when hovering over the image. Alternatively all the NudiNotes may be accessed via the button on the navigation bar above.

Species Profile

All species sighted have been listed on the website with at least one image. There is an ongoing update process whereby information about each species including references and additional images will be added. As each species is enhanced it will be featured here as a temporary notification of that latest update.

Chromodoris willani

Information about this species has been added to its page with references. Additional images have been added to the gallery.

News and Updates

A new page will be coming to the website soon. RECORD OF FINDS will be a chronological archive of the dive and intertidal surveys undertaken by The Team detailing the species finds and circumstances.