Nudibranchs
Tishana Lawhorne
Nudribranchia
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Opisthobranchia
Suborder: Nudibranchia
• Their scientific name, Nudibranchia,
means naked gills, and describes the
feathery gills and horns that most wear on
their backs.
Image Is Everything
Nudibranchs are colorful little animals. They come in lots of
different shapes and sizes. Some nudibranchs are yellow, some
are orange and some are yellow with dark brown blotches.
Nudibranchs are usually small. They can grow from less than
half an inch to almost two feet. Spotted nudibranchs and clown
nudibranchs grow up to eight centimeters long, but the sea
lemon can, very rarely, grow up to twenty inches long. Some
have two horned tentacles (rhinophores) on their head, others a
feathery gills on their back, most are brightly colored though
some blend into their environment.
Home Sweet Home
Nudibranchs can live in all
depths of salt water, but
reach their greatest size and
variation in warm, shallow
waters.
I’m A Carnivore !
•Nudibranchs are carnivorous, meaning that they eat other small animals.
•As they glide around, they feed on all sorts of creatures (hydroids,
tunicates, sponges, anemones, and barnacles.
•Sometimes they will even eat other nudibranchs.
•They have a hard, toothed feeding structure called a radula inside their
mouth that helps them crunch up food.
•Often they take on the color of their preferred prey, such as
brightly colored sponges.
Let’s Talk ‘Bout Sex Bay-Bee!
Nudibranchs have both male and
female reproductive organs.
Even though they do,
they rarely fertilize
themselves.
| speCial aDaptatiOns |
• They store the toxins eaten in their own
bodies and then use it as a defense
mechanism to fight off predators.
• Nudibranchs can change color to blend in
with their prey and to hide from predators.
_*Byee Now !
• This Is An
• Annette-Eunice Production !