Sun Coral Ninja!

M

mo

I took some pictures of my sun coral the other night right before lights out. It was looking good for a 5-dollar frag from an old friend.

This morning, when I got home from work I looked in there and saw what looked like a morphed version of an open coral. The only problem was, it was slowly moving and in it wake... death!


I and a pair of long tweezers removed the little bastard! Have not flushed him yet but most likely will since he is not going back in that tank....


In this picture, he is at the top right side of the coral. This was a couple days ago and I did not know he was not a piece of coral...
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In this picture he's on the back side where you really can not see him.
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Here he is about 1 hour ago...
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And again.
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And the last one of him posing in the tank admiring his handy work!
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Wow, that's really neat. I've never seen a suncoral-eating nudibranch. Great pictures! I wonder how rare that is?
 
Well, I did put him in my sump in a solitary confinement cell. Need to start researching what they feed on besides my Sun Coral!

Knowing they normally are very difficult to keep for any length of time since most have very specific feeding requirements, I bet this guy does not last very long. We will see!
 
Would you consider letting me add it to my site (to the Suncoral page or the ID page)? I've never seen anyone mention this before and I'm halfway inclined to take it off your hands and feed it suncorals, believe it or not.

The darn thing is just gorgeous.
 
that is really a neat find - may even be some totally new species of nudu that you can name - suncoral ninja

you should really see if someone would keep it for you like marc
 
I've got a post on reef central but the hits so far are of no help IDing the fellow!

He's in his cell in the refuge, resting quietly for the moment.

For the time being, I'm going to keep him there and see what I can findout. If no luck in a couple days, I'll either give him to Marc or start feeding cheap... " yeah, right " sun coral....

He's going to make a harlequin shrimp look like a light weight when it comes to feeding cost!
 
Keep taking pictures. I think as long as it can't eat more suncorals, the colors will fade based on the food it eats since it was removed. Nudibranchs change colors to match their surroundings for a reason.
 
That is one awesome nudibrach. Unfortunatly there are bad ones and they tend to be very specific feeders so he'll have to go and wan't be sustained but how cool. At least you found him before all your polyps are gone! As others have stated try to get some really good close ups of him before you toss him.
 
Hey Marc,
I've gotten no valid replies to my RC post so I'd not want him to die due to lack of eating.
I work nights in Las Colinas so if you want him let's work out a day and time.

cell 817-584-0043

@Marc wrote:
 
I'm about to go to work, so I'll call you tomorrow.
 
I've not heard from Marc on this and I have very little live sun coral left so feeding him is not going to happen. I've put a few things in with him but he does not eat them and that's no suprise to any of us, I know.

One issue I have is I get of work at 6 am and have to be back at work at 8 pm so after sleeping, not much time to get to a LFS with sun coral and back home again to give him food. If he makes it to the weekend, I'll try and find some food then.
 
I've been working nights all week, and getting home to sleep for a few hours. I haven't had a chance to call you, as I've either been answering the phone, dealing with stuff here, or having someone over. I'm leaving for work now, but will try to call you tomorrow afternoon after I get up.
 
here's some info I think...

http://www.calacademy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4465

http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/photos/blpicinvertkeokicupcoralslug.htm

http://www.steinhartaquarium.org/research/izg/CoralReefOrganisms/SeaSlugs/Phestilla_melanobranchia.htm

http://www.imagequest3d.com/cgi-bin/ImageFolio3/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=aquatic/mollusca/gastropoda&image=RGS00490.jpg&img=224&tt=&search=New&cat=&bool=phrase

http://www.coralreefnetwork.com/stender/marine/mollusks/slugs/slugs.htm

http://www.theveliger.org/nudibranch_food.html
 
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