Nudibranchs: The Most Colorful Creatures on Earth
Fascinating facts about the most colorful and exquisitely formed creatures on earth.
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Nudibranchs (NEW-dih-bronks) are marine snails with no shells, noted for their fascinating shapes and extraordinary patterns and colors.
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The striking colors that make them attractive to underwater photographers are also what warn predators to back-off. Many of them defend themselves by releasing chemicals that make them toxic.
- The more than 300,000 known species of nudibranchs can be thick or flattened, long or short, sumptuously colored or plain looking.
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Nudis are blind, so they touch, taste and smell through the two highly sensitive horn-like tentacles, called rhinophores, located on top of their heads.
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They live at virtually all depths of salt water from Antarctica to the tropics, but reach their greatest size and variation in warm, shallow waters.
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These carnivores prey on stinging creatures such as corals, hydroids and barnacles. Some are even cannibals feasting on sea slugs and even their own species.
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Their coloring is obtained from the food they eat.
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Aeolid nudibrachs keep their prey’s sting and re-use it by releasing on their feather plumes. The plumes also act as gills.
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Being hermaphrodites, they can mate with any other mature member of their species and both can become pregnant and lay eggs.
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They lay their eggs in ribbons, coils or tangled clumps, up to two million at a time. Like them, their eggs vary in shapes and hues.
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Nudibrachs grow from 0.25 in (6 mm) to 12 in (31 cm) long, and can weigh up to 3.3 lbs (1.5 kg).
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Their lifespan can be as short as 1 week or as long as 1 year.
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Nudis cannot be fished out of the sea as they lose their shape and beautiful colors. Thus, they cannot be abused by tourists and collectors alike.
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The only way to bring home and show the beauty of these amazingl creatures is by taking photographs.
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They cannot be kept in an aquarium due to the diversity of their diet. Even underwater, they are more or less confined within special micro-environments.
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Their scientific name, Nudibranchia means “naked gills.”
Photos by Nick Hobgood through Flickr creative commons.
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15 Responses to “Nudibranchs: The Most Colorful Creatures on Earth”
On August 9, 2009 at 11:27 pm
makulay nga!
On August 10, 2009 at 12:18 am
great article, first time I encounter this creature.
On August 10, 2009 at 2:35 am
very beautiful. ang ganda… very interesting too.
On August 10, 2009 at 6:24 am
On August 10, 2009 at 8:46 am
Fascinating, what amazing creatures.
On August 10, 2009 at 11:56 am
love the pics, these species are very new to me
good work!
On August 10, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Nature is so colorful, it takes your breath away!! Awesome!!!!!
On August 10, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Nice write up!
On August 11, 2009 at 4:08 am
these are perhaps my favorite sea creatures
On August 11, 2009 at 5:37 am
Wow, so informative and amazing pics! Thank you for sharing!
On August 13, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Their colors are amazing.
On August 14, 2009 at 7:31 am
The sea is truly a treasure chest of wonderful secrets. We have only begun to understand the life down there and I hope we learn to protect it before we manage to pollute and harvest it into barrenness. Your article on the nudibranchs is very interesting and beautifully illustrated by Mr. Hobgood’s photographs.
On August 15, 2009 at 3:16 pm
this is a wonderful article! It’s well written and I love the choice of pictures.
On August 26, 2009 at 10:33 am
Beautiful creatures
On September 8, 2009 at 12:28 pm
You have helped me with my science project, thank you vety much! =D
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