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Black nudi with orange rim from the gulf


DaJMasta

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Been a while since I had a tank, but I've set one up and got some maricultured Gulf rock put in earlier this week and am discovering things daily.  Last night after the lights turned off, there was a black worm looking thing on the glass, so I caught it and put it in a holding box (and the holes are probably big enough for it to get out, but it didn't in the couple hours I had before I went to sleep).

 

Anyways, any idea what nudibranch this is?  Wasn't able to find a lot of resources for sea slugs from the Gulf area, and while there were some that look similar from elsewhere, no obvious match and no info on what they may eat or how they may interact with other things.

 

No obvious gills (maybe the little head at the front?) on the exterior, the underside just has a tan colored line down the center, so it's basically entirely flat (and looks it on the glass or surface of the water sometimes).

mystery nudi.jpg

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It's certainly close, but I'm seeing that listed as indo-pacific, are they known to be found in the gulf?  Looking through differences though, yes it seems like a flatworm more than it does a nudi.  The fastest I saw it going on a solid surface was its length in 3-4 seconds.

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I like it too, but I'm afraid it will just die out if I don't happen to have its food source around.  In any case, it could indeed squeeze through those 2mm holes in the box I was keeping it in, so it's loose in the rockwork once more!

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Very cool video, and yes it definitely moves like that, though this one (probably a lot smaller) had the frills moving somewhat quicker.  On the surface of something, it sometimes had similarly scrunched sides but was lying otherwise flat, but it could flatten itself out entirely to just be an oblong rounded shape with an orange ring, either on the side of something or on the surface on the water.  It had some trouble swimming/holding to the glass in the main display, but when moved to the little plastic box it had no trouble swimming and wandering around.

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Dug around a bit today to try and find a confirmation, it definitely appears to be a Pseudobiceros sp., but my best guess right now is Pseudobiceros splendidus.  Looks very similar to Pseudobiceros periculosus, but there appear to be some hits of it being found in the Gulf of Mexico.

In either case, their diet seems to be tunicates, which, at least for now, are pretty plentiful in my tank!  I've seen it roaming around a few times since the original post and hope it will stick around.

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