Tritoniopsis - another hitchhiker

September 23, 2000
From: Jim Roth


Hi,
I received a mystery nudibranch in some corals from Indonesia. Picture attached. It has been living on (and eating) a soft-coral I think is Cladiella. Initially I removed it, then I decided It was more interesting to have a beautiful nudibranch than another Cladiella. I put it back.

Somebody has tentatively ID'd it as Tritonopsis. I have a couple of questions:
1) Will it eat anything besides Cladiella? (Colt or Xenia?) I'd like to get another fast-growing soft coral to feed it.
2) I believe I have only one of these. Can it still reproduce in my 90g tank? I don't want an infestation.

Thanks for your help.
Jim Roth

roth@monmouth.com

Roth, J., 2000 (Sep 23) Tritoniopsis - another hitchhiker. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3057

Dear Jim,
Yes your nudibranch is Tritoniopsis elegans. You'll see from the other messages below yours that this is not the first time it has been reported as a hitchhiker. Concerning whether it will eat other soft-corals. Our knowledge of what many tropical nudibranchs eat is still very rudimentary. Tritoniopsis is a soft-coral feeder and presumably it arrived and survived in your tank on a piece of soft-coral. However I can't say which ones it will eat and so can't recommend a fast growing one for you to buy.

Concerning it reproducing in your aquarium. If you have only one then the chances are zero. Although nudibranchs are hermaphrodites, with a full set of male and female organs, they do not self-fertilise. Since your animal was obviously very small when collected, it is unlikely to have mated before you got it. The apparent infestation reported in an earlier message is probably the result of a lot of microscopic juveniles being on a soft-coral when it was introduced into the aquarium.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Sep 23). Comment on Tritoniopsis - another hitchhiker by Jim Roth. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3057

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