How Do Sea Slugs Get Their Food?

There are several species of sea slugs, also known as nudibranchs, and they employ a variety of methods to get their food and their diet changes depending on the species of sea slug. These amazing creatures run the gambit of food from algae and fish to the sun.

  1. Opalescent Nudibranch

    • Some species of sea slugs are omnivores and eat both plant and animal material such as the opalescent nudibranch. What makes this species different is one of the ways it gets food is through cannibalism. If two meet head on, then they will begin to fight and the winner consumes the loser.

    Specific Feeding Needs

    • One of the aspects that makes seas slugs difficult to use for commercial or residential aquariums is the fact that many species have very specific feeding needs. The shaggy mouse sea slug is immune to anemone stings and only eats the tentacles of sea anemones. The frosted nudibranch has powerful jaws that are able to crack open the shells of snails.

    Mimicry

    • Some sea slugs use camouflage abilities to get their food. Many species such as the Phyllodesmium have cerrata tentacles on their back that mimic the tentacles on reef coral. The cerrata in some species of sea slug actually contain a branch of the digestive system and is used to digest their prey.

    Green Sea Slug

    • The green sea slug is a very special branch of the sea slug family that gets a portion of its food from the sun through photosynthesis. The green sea slug eats algae and is able to absorb the photosynthetic genes of its prey. It can then use these genes to create chlorophyll and use the sun to create food for itself.

    Considerations

    • Slugs are often used in both commercial and residential aquariums as a way of pest control, but this rarely ends happily for the slugs or the aquarium owner. The slugs have a very specific diet and if they do eat the pests in the tank, they will eat them to the point where they are unable to maintain their diet and will starve. Once the slugs are gone, the pests will likely come back.