Fish attacking Peltodoris nobilis

July 12, 2006
From: Leslie Harris

Dear Bill

As a follow up to my comment the other day about a fish picking on a nudibranch [message #17073] here are Kevin Lee's pictures of the attack and the victim 5 minutes afterwards. The aggressor is a California Garibaldi Hypsypops rubicundus and its intended snack item is Peltodoris nobilis. The fish was targeting the nudibranch's rhinophores & gill filaments.

Locality: Deadman's Reef, off Laguna Beach, about 60 feet, California, USA, Northeast Pacific, 4 July 2006, temperate rock reef. Length: 3 inches. Photographer: Kevin Lee.

Cheers,
Leslie

lharris@nhm.org

Harris, L.H., 2006 (Jul 12) Fish attacking Peltodoris nobilis. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17102

Thanks Leslie (and Kevin),

Actually catching fish nibbling at nudibranchs 'in natural situations' is quite difficult. When we think of the defensive metabolites [chemicals] many nudibranchs have in their skins we tend to forget they are often found in the gills and rhinophores as well. If you look carefully at living animals you can often find opaque white lumps scattered through the transparent or semi-transparent gills. These are aggregations of defensive chemicals which we hypothesise are designed to serve in precisely this sort of situation. A curious and hungry fish will nibble the gills or rhinophores and be deterred from investigating the rest of the body by the distasteful chemicals it experiences. One large group of dorid nudibranchs, which used to be called the Cryptobranchia [= hidden gills] can protect their gills and rhinophores by withdrawing them into pockets beneath the skin.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jul 12). Comment on Fish attacking Peltodoris nobilis by Leslie Harris. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17102

Factsheet

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