Notodoris gardineri feeding

May 11, 2007
From: Jim Anderson


Dear Bill,

To accompany my other photos of Notodoris gardineri [message #19882] here is one of a feeding animal. It was also taken by me during a recent trip to Raja Ampat in West Papua, Indonesia

Depth 16 metres; site Api Box 2, Gam Island; typical steep coral reef; lengths 100 mm. This animal was 50 metres away from the mating pair in the previous message.

Regards,

Jim Anderson
Scottish Nudibranchs

jander4454@gmail.com

Anderson, J., 2007 (May 11) Notodoris gardineri feeding. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19898

Dear Jim,

Thanks for this photo of Notodoris gardineri making is usualy mess when it is feeding. I am pretty sure the sponge is its usual food, the calcareous sponge Pericharax heterographis. In the close-up alongside I show a bit of the brownish part of the colony behind the slug. The sponge colony can be different colours in different parts an I think the pinkish mass you can see in the other close-up is also part of the sponge colony.

The white 'cotton-wool' looking stuff all around the animal are the sponges calcareous spicules which have been discarded by the slug as it eats the sponge. Most slugs when feeding take bites of the sponge and swallow it spiclues and all, sorting out the spicules in the stomach and discarding them in faecal pellets. Notodoris though seems to spit the spicules out as it is eating and sometimes you can see a great pile of this white 'cotton-wool' alongside the head. I would be interested to know if others have observed this.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (May 11). Comment on Notodoris gardineri feeding by Jim Anderson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19898

Factsheet

Notodoris gardineri

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