I bought 14lbs of live rock today to start up a tank and inside one of the rocks, apparently, a 4" long olive green/tan (honestly, it looks like jungle camo pattern) nudibranch hitchhiked. This thing is ACTIVE, and it’s apparently in good health…
I’ve no expectation that it’ll survive the cycle, nor will it find enough sponge to eat(I assume sponge, tho I’ve no clue what kinda nudi he is), and he may, in fact, be toxic when stressed and could fux0r the tank if left to his own devices. The rock is cultured gulf of mexico rock, so he’s a local species…should I just release him?
Anyone know what it is? It didn’t hurt me when I handled it…
it’s smooth-backed and has slightly ruffled skirt around the edge, it’s foot/disc is ovoid and doesn’t have the ruffle attached to it, it’s not a lettuce nudi, this much I know
I would hope so, if you know how to do it so the animail is in a survivable environment. Have you thought about contacting pet supply stores to see if perhaps one would like to buy it from you or take it in in order to find it a home?
Those things are really beautiful undulating through the water.
Would it help if you knew it was pronounced “new-duh-bronk?”
They are the most beautiful and graceful, yet odd-looking things, when they swim. They sort of just slowly whip back and forth and glide at the same time.
There’s a Monty Python sketch (from Flying Circus) with a documentary about molluscs that reveals various sordid details about their lives. Limpets are adulterous; clams are highly promiscuous, and whelks are gay. I thought it mentioned nudibranchs, but it doesn’t (but probably should have, given the premise) – it says something about lamellibranchs, though. There’s a transcript of the sketch here (warning, some mature content).
Actually, it’s not a good practice to release animals you bought at a pet shop when they’re not native to an area. Non-native species can devastate native species. For example, zebra mussels hitched rides in ballast tanks, and have taken over many marine areas where they were dumped. There is a species of crab that IIRC was released in the Thames, and they are burrowing into the river bank and causing erosion. The snakehead is an aggressive species that is a food fish in Asia. Some, either released by people who didn’t want to kill them or otherwise escaped into the environment, have gotten into U.S. waters and are destroying native bass populations. Kudzu, an introduced plant, is clogging waterways. People who are too kind-hearted, animal-rights activists, careless shippers et al can cause serious damage by releasing non-native species into an environment.
There was an article in a recent Dive Training magazine called “Finding Nemo”. It said that the popularity of the film induced people to buy their own tropical fish. When they found out how much trouble a saltwater aquarium can be, they kindly released the fish into local waters. Non-native species are now being found where they don’t belong. Is “Nemo” a problem? I don’t know. A small population may not be; but how do you know which species are dangerous to local populations and which are not? At worst, introduced species may destroy the ecological balance of an area. At best, widespread introduction of non-native species may result in a homogenisation of environments.
IMO Dan Turk should give or sell the animal to a pet store or another person who wants it. Don’t release it into the wild unless it actually belongs there.
Throw it back? Aren’t you curious what it tastes like? Maybe with some fava beans and a nice chianti? You know you are. I’m thinking it tastes like… calamari.
Nudibranchs typically do not make for good aquarium species because of the problems you have mentioned. Most are highly specialized feeders and will not accept preparred foods. Since this one came in with live rock, there is a decent chance that something on the rock is what it feeds on, so the question becomes if whatever it feeds on will regrow fast enough so that both it and the nudibranch survive. Probably not.
The other problem is, as you suggest, that most nudibranchs produce some type of poison (there is a reason that they haven’t been sucked up by a hungry fish) and when the thing dies (and it will die eventually one way or another), that poison is released into your tank.
Best bet - get rid of it.
My biggest problem with live rock has been bristle worms. Nasty buggers.
Just becasue you’re on the Gulf and the rock ostensibly came from the Gulf doesn’t mean the critter is local. If you really know where the rock was pulled up from then fine. But if the rock was quarried somewhere in Yucatan, then the species could easily be not at all local to Pinellas Park. The Gulf is a big place
It’s a nudibranch for gosh sake. In other words an animal with about 1/3rd the brains and ethical presence of a cockroach. If you’re not 100% sure it’s ecologically safe to release it into the local environment, put it in the trash and forget it. Greater good for the greater number and all that.
The people who’re clamoring for it to be treated humanely and “set free” wouldn’t hesitate to step on a roach or mow the snails in their lawn. How cute something is is not a measure of it’s ethical value (Paris Hilton coming readily to mind).
